Entrepreneurial Potential of Apipreneurs in South Kerala

The paper assessed the apipreneurs of Kerala based on their entrepreneurial potential. Ex post facto research design was followed for the study conducted during 2019-2020. The location of the study was South Kerala focusing on three districts viz., Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Kottayam. Seventy-five apipreneurs were randomly selected for the study. Based on the study it was found that about 69 per cent of the apipreneurs had medium level of entrepreneurial potential. The results obtained from principal component analysis on the dimensions of entrepreneurial potential, based on Eigen vectors revealed that the three dimensions viz., entrepreneurial motivation, management competencies and social competencies had influenced the entrepreneurial potential of the apipreneur

Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A and/or diethylhexyl phthalate alters stress responses in rat offspring in a sex- and dose-dependent manner

Background: Prenatal exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are correlated with adverse behavioral outcomes, but the effects of combinations of these chemicals are unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the dose-dependent effects of prenatal exposure to EDCs on male and female behavior.Methods: Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were orally dosed with vehicle, bisphenol A (BPA) (5 μg/kg body weight (BW)/day), low-dose (LD) diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) (5 μg/kg BW/day), high-dose (HD) DEHP (7.5 mg/kg BW/day), a combination of BPA and LD-DEHP (B + D (LD)), or a combination of BPA and HD-DEHP (B + D (HD)) on gestational days 6–21. Adult offspring were subjected to the Open Field Test (OFT), Elevated Plus Maze (EPM), and Shock Probe Defensive Burying test (SPDB) in adulthood. Body, adrenal gland, and pituitary gland weights were collected at sacrifice. Corticosterone (CORT) was measured in the serum.Results: Female EDC-exposed offspring showed anxiolytic effects in the OFT, while male offspring were unaffected. DEHP (HD) male offspring demonstrated a feminization of behavior in the EPM. Most EDC-exposed male offspring buried less in the SPDB, while their female counterparts showed reduced shock reactivity, indicating sex-specific maladaptive alterations in defensive behaviors. Additionally, DEHP (LD) males and females and B + D (LD) females displayed increased immobility in this test. DEHP (LD) alone and in combination with BPA led to lower adrenal gland weights, but only in male offspring. Finally, females treated with a mixture of B + D (HD) had elevated CORT levels.Conclusion: Prenatal exposure to BPA, DEHP, or a mixture of the two, affects behavior, CORT levels, and adrenal gland weights in a sex- and dose-dependent manner

ToppCluster: a multiple gene list feature analyzer for comparative enrichment clustering and network-based dissection of biological systems

ToppCluster is a web server application that leverages a powerful enrichment analysis and underlying data environment for comparative analyses of multiple gene lists. It generates heatmaps or connectivity networks that reveal functional features shared or specific to multiple gene lists. ToppCluster uses hypergeometric tests to obtain list-specific feature enrichment P-values for currently 17 categories of annotations of human-ortholog genes, and provides user-selectable cutoffs and multiple testing correction methods to control false discovery. Each nameable gene list represents a column input to a resulting matrix whose rows are overrepresented features, and individual cells per-list P-values and corresponding genes per feature. ToppCluster provides users with choices of tabular outputs, hierarchical clustering and heatmap generation, or the ability to interactively select features from the functional enrichment matrix to be transformed into XGMML or GEXF network format documents for use in Cytoscape or Gephi applications, respectively. Here, as example, we demonstrate the ability of ToppCluster to enable identification of list-specific phenotypic and regulatory element features (both cis-elements and 3′UTR microRNA binding sites) among tissue-specific gene lists. ToppCluster’s functionalities enable the identification of specialized biological functions and regulatory networks and systems biology-based dissection of biological states. ToppCluster can be accessed freely at http://toppcluster.cchmc.org

Defining the Molecular Character of the Developing and Adult Kidney Podocyte

BACKGROUND: The podocyte is a remarkable cell type, which encases the capillaries of the kidney glomerulus. Although mesodermal in origin it sends out axonal like projections that wrap around the capillaries. These extend yet finer projections, the foot processes, which interdigitate, leaving between them the slit diaphragms, through which the glomerular filtrate must pass. The podocytes are a subject of keen interest because of their key roles in kidney development and disease. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this report we identified and characterized a novel transgenic mouse line, MafB-GFP, which specifically marked the kidney podocytes from a very early stage of development. These mice were then used to facilitate the fluorescent activated cell sorting based purification of podocytes from embryos at E13.5 and E15.5, as well as adults. Microarrays were then used to globally define the gene expression states of podocytes at these different developmental stages. A remarkable picture emerged, identifying the multiple sets of genes that establish the neuronal, muscle, and phagocytic properties of podocytes. The complete combinatorial code of transcription factors that create the podocyte was characterized, and the global lists of growth factors and receptors they express were defined. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The complete molecular character of the in vivo podocyte is established for the first time. The active molecular functions and biological processes further define their unique combination of features. The results provide a resource atlas of gene expression patterns of developing and adult podocytes that will help to guide further research of these incredible cells

Saposin C Coupled Lipid Nanovesicles Specifically Target Arthritic Mouse Joints for Optical Imaging of Disease Severity

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting approximately 1% of the population and is characterized by cartilage and bone destruction ultimately leading to loss of joint function. Early detection and intervention of disease provides the best hope for successful treatment and preservation of joint mobility and function. Reliable and non-invasive techniques that accurately measure arthritic disease onset and progression are lacking. We recently developed a novel agent, SapC-DOPS, which is composed of the membrane-associated lysosomal protein saposin C (SapC) incorporated into 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-L-serine (DOPS) lipid nanovesicles. SapC-DOPS has a high fusogenic affinity for phosphatidylserine-enriched microdomains on surfaces of target cell membranes. Incorporation of a far-red fluorophore, CellVue Maroon (CVM), into the nanovesicles allows for in vivo non-invasive visualization of the agent in targeted tissue. Given that phosphatidylserine is present only on the inner leaflet of healthy plasma membranes but is “flipped” to the outer leaflet upon cell damage, we hypothesized that SapC-DOPS would target tissue damage associated with inflammatory arthritis due to local surface-exposure of phosphatidylserine. Optical imaging with SapC-DOPS-CVM in two distinct models of arthritis, serum-transfer arthritis (e.g., K/BxN) and collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) revealed robust SapC-DOPS-CVM specific localization to arthritic paws and joints in live animals. Importantly, intensity of localized fluorescent signal correlated with macroscopic arthritic disease severity and increased with disease progression. Flow cytometry of cells extracted from arthritic joints demonstrated that SapC-DOPS-CVM localized to an average of 7–8% of total joint cells and primarily to CD11b+Gr-1+ cells. Results from the current studies strongly support the application of SapC-DOPS-CVM for advanced clinical and research applications including: detecting early arthritis onset, assessing disease progression real-time in live subjects, and providing novel information regarding cell types that may mediate arthritis progression within joints

The Critical Richardson Number and Limits of Applicability of Local Similarity Theory in the Stable Boundary Layer

Measurements of atmospheric turbulence made over the Arctic pack ice during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean experiment (SHEBA) are used to determine the limits of applicability of Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (in the local scaling formulation) in the stable atmospheric boundary layer. Based on the spectral analysis of wind velocity and air temperature fluctuations, it is shown that, when both of the gradient Richardson number, Ri, and the flux Richardson number, Rf, exceed a 'critical value' of about 0.20 - 0.25, the inertial subrange associated with the Richardson-Kolmogorov cascade dies out and vertical turbulent fluxes become small. Some small-scale turbulence survives even in this supercritical regime, but this is non-Kolmogorov turbulence, and it decays rapidly with further increasing stability. Similarity theory is based on the turbulent fluxes in the high-frequency part of the spectra that are associated with energy-containing/flux-carrying eddies. Spectral densities in this high-frequency band diminish as the Richardson-Kolmogorov energy cascade weakens; therefore, the applicability of local Monin-Obukhov similarity theory in stable conditions is limited by the inequalities Ri < Ri_cr and Rf < Rf_cr. However, it is found that Rf_cr = 0.20 - 0.25 is a primary threshold for applicability. Applying this prerequisite shows that the data follow classical Monin-Obukhov local z-less predictions after the irrelevant cases (turbulence without the Richardson-Kolmogorov cascade) have been filtered out.Comment: Boundary-Layer Meteorology (Manuscript submitted: 16 February 2012; Accepted: 10 September 2012

Energy- and flux-budget turbulence closure model for stably stratified flows. Part II: the role of internal gravity waves

We advance our prior energy- and flux-budget turbulence closure model (Zilitinkevich et al., 2007, 2008) for the stably stratified atmospheric flows and extend it accounting for additional vertical flux of momentum and additional productions of turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent potential energy (TPE) and turbulent flux of potential temperature due to large-scale internal gravity waves (IGW). Main effects of IGW are following: the maximal value of the flux Richardson number (universal constant 0.2-0.25 in the no-IGW regime) becomes strongly variable. In the vertically homogeneous stratification, it increases with increasing wave energy and can even exceed 1. In the heterogeneous stratification, when IGW propagate towards stronger stratification, the maximal flux Richardson number decreases with increasing wave energy, reaches zero and then becomes negative. In other words, the vertical flux of potential temperature becomes counter-gradient. IGW also reduce anisotropy of turbulence and increase the share of TPE in the turbulent total energy. Depending on the direction (downward or upward), IGW either strengthen or weaken the total vertical flux of momentum. Predictions from the proposed model are consistent with available data from atmospheric and laboratory experiments, direct numerical simulations and large-eddy simulations.Comment: 37 pages, 5 figures, revised versio