Combining ability studies for yield and contributing traits in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench)

The present investigation was carried out to identify desirable parents and F1 hybrids in okra by involving eight diverse parents in a diallel mating design excluding reciprocals. Genotypes i.e., P-20 and VRO-4 for earliness; 9801 for first fruit producing node (-0.085), internodal length (-0.659) and fruit length (0.201); HU for average fruit weight (0.603); Tulsi-I for nodes per plant (0.429), fruit length (0.271) and plant height (12.068) were found good general combiners appeared to be worthy of exploitation in future breeding. It is suggested that involving these lines, new genotypes may be developed through multiple crossing for isolating high yielding varieties. The cross combinations VRO-4 × HU, Tulsi-I × SKBS-11, P-20 × Tulsi-I and P-8 × Tulsi-I showed high SCA effects as well as per se performance for yield per plant. The crosses showing high SCA effects and per se performance for yield per plant suggested that these hybrids may be exploited in further breeding programme

Elusive empowerment: characteristics of indirectly elected women chairpersons of district councils in Uttar Pradesh, India

The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India was introduced with a stated legislative intent of reserving not less than a third of seats for women in institutions of local self-government, the three-tier panchayati raj institutions. That amendment is considered a milestone in India’s project of empowerment of women. This paper evaluates the power and prestige of the post of an adhyaksha (chairperson) of a zila (district) panchayat (council) in general, and in particular the status of women elected to the post during 2016 in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Analysing the candidature, electoral success, electoral practices and subsequent functioning of zila panchayat adhyakshas (ZPAs), the authors argue that despite seats being reserved for women, no meaningful political empowerment of women has occurred in UP. The paper questions the efficacy of the indirect mode of election of ZPAs in bringing about empowerment of women, arguing that indirect elections enable powerful ruling elites to use women as proxies, subverting the legislative intent of the 73rd Amendment. The paper therefore proposes electoral reforms

PRODUCTION OF ANTIBACTERIAL AGENT FROM FUNGI ISOLATED FROM PHARMACEUTICAL SOIL SAMPLE BY FERMENTATION UNDER OPTIMIZED CONDITIONS

Objective: This study aimed to isolate fungi having antibacterial activity from pharmaceutical site soil sample and production of antibacterial agents by solid and submerged state fermentation under optimized conditions. Antibacterial activity of laboratory isolated and produced antibacterial agent was compared with other commercialized antibiotics to check the efficiency of laboratory produced antibacterial agent. Methods: For isolation and characterization of fungal isolates American Public Health Association standard was followed. Antibacterial activity was determined using disc diffusion and agar disc diffusion method. Results: On the basis of morphological and microscopic characteristics six fungal isolates belongs to four different genus species, i.e., Aspergillus sp. (F1, F2, F3), Penicillium sp. (F4), Rhizopus sp. (F5), and Fusarium sp. (F6), and they were tested against six bacterial isolates, i.e., Streptococcus sp. (B1), Bacillus sp. (B2), Staphylococcus sp. (B3), Bacillus sp. (B4), Bacillus sp. (B5), and Enterococcus sp. (B6). Except B4 all bacterial isolates growth were inhibited by fungal isolates. Under optimized conditions maximum zone of inhibition, i.e., 78 mm against B1 and B5 shown by F1 and F6 at 2% and 1% glucose concentration, respectively, at 10 pH. When comparison was made between commercialized antibiotics and lab produced antibacterial agents, it was observed lab produced antibacterial agent was more efficient in terms of zone of inhibition. Conclusion: Lab isolated and produced antibacterial agents were more efficient than commercialized antibiotics. This study demonstrated that lab isolated antibacterial agents isolated from six fungal isolates seems to be a stable and potent antibacterial and can be used as alternative to expensive commercialized antibiotics.Â

Role of trans vaginal sonography with hysteroscopy in detection of uterine causes of abortions

Background: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is one of the most frustrating and difficult areas in reproductive medicine because the aetiology is often unknown and there are only few evidence-based diagnostic and treatment strategies. Objective of this study was to compare the role of trans vaginal sonography with hysteroscopy in detection of uterine causes of abortions.Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, Kasturba Hospital, Daryaganj, Delhi. The study was conducted from January 2016 to December 2016.Results: On transvaginal sonography majority of women i.e. 39(78%) patients had normal ultra-sonographic findings. 11(22%) showed various abnormal findings. Most commonly diagnosed abnormal finding on TVS was polyp, seen in 5(10%) patients. It was seen as a well-defined, uniformly hyperechoic mass within the endometrial cavity. normal hysteroscopic findings were seen in 27(54%) patients. Rest 23(46%) patients had abnormal uterine factors as diagnosed by hysteroscopy.Synechiae was detected in 9(18%) patients. It was the most common abnormality detected on hysteroscopy. Out of 9 patients who had synechiae, 2 had severe dense adhesions. In 6 patients, the adhesions were mild and flimsy. While minimal adhesions were noted in 1 patient, seen near the cornua.Conclusions: hysteroscopy is still the gold standard for diagnosis and most definitive procedure of choice if any kind of operative intervention is required

Diabetes mellitus treatment using herbal drugs

Diabetes mellitus is becoming a common metabolic disorder which has serious threat to public health in the world. There are chemicals and biochemical agent that helps in controlling diabetes but there is no permanent remedy available which helps to get recovered completely from this disorder. By conducting large number of research work, numerous traditional medicines have been found for diabetes. Substances and extracts isolated from different natural resources especially plants have always been a rich arsenal for controlling and treating diabetes problem and complication arising due to it. So this review helps the reader to understand the importance of various types of herbal and polyherbal formulations present traditionally which can be used to treat diabetes mellitus.

Recognition of fold- and function-specific sites in the ligand-binding domain of the thyroid hormone receptor-like family

Background: The thyroid hormone receptor-like (THR-like) family is the largest transcription factors family belonging to the nuclear receptor superfamily, which directly binds to DNA and regulates the gene expression and thereby controls various metabolic processes in a ligand-dependent manner. The THR-like family contains receptors THRs, RARs, VDR, PPARs, RORs, Rev-erbs, CAR, PXR, LXRs, and others. THR-like receptors are involved in many aspects of human health, including development, metabolism and homeostasis. Therefore, it is considered an important therapeutic target for various diseases such as osteoporosis, rickets, diabetes, etc. Methods: In this study, we have performed an extensive sequence and structure analysis of the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of the THR-like family spanning multiple taxa. We have use different computational tools (information-theoretic measures; relative entropy) to predict the key residues responsible for fold and functional specificity in the LBD of the THR-like family. The MSA of THR-like LBDs was further used as input in conservation studies and phylogenetic clustering studies. Results: Phylogenetic analysis of the LBD domain of THR-like proteins resulted in the clustering of eight subfamilies based on their sequence homology. The conservation analysis by relative entropy (RE) revealed that structurally important residues are conserved throughout the LBDs in the THR-like family. The multi-harmony conservation analysis further predicted specificity in determining residues in LBDs of THR-like subfamilies. Finally, fold and functional specificity determining residues (residues critical for ligand, DBD and coregulators binding) were mapped on the three-dimensional structure of thyroid hormone receptor protein. We then compiled a list of natural mutations in THR-like LBDs and mapped them along with fold and function-specific mutations. Some of the mutations were found to have a link with severe diseases like hypothyroidism, rickets, obesity, lipodystrophy, epilepsy, etc. Conclusion: Our study identifies fold and function-specific residues in THR-like LBDs. We believe that this study will be useful in exploring the role of these residues in the binding of different drugs, ligands, and protein-protein interaction among partner proteins. So this study might be helpful in the rational design of either ligands or receptors

PhosIDP: a web tool to visualize the location of phosphorylation sites in disordered regions

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2021-03-15, accepted 2021-04-19, registration 2021-04-20, online 2021-05-11, pub-electronic 2021-05-11, collection 2021-12Publication status: PublishedFunder: Agency for Science, Technology and Research; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001348; Grant(s): IDs H17/01/a0/010, IDs H17/01/a0/010Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000266; Grant(s): EP/N024796/1, EP/N024796/1Abstract: Charge is a key determinant of intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) and intrinsically disordered region (IDR) properties. IDPs and IDRs are enriched in sites of phosphorylation, which alters charge. Visualizing the degree to which phosphorylation modulates the charge profile of a sequence would assist in the functional interpretation of IDPs and IDRs. PhosIDP is a web tool that shows variation of charge and fold propensity upon phosphorylation. In combination with the displayed location of protein domains, the information provided by the web tool can lead to functional inferences for the consequences of phosphorylation. IDRs are components of many proteins that form biological condensates. It is shown that IDR charge, and its modulation by phosphorylation, is more tightly controlled for proteins that are essential for condensate formation than for those present in condensates but inessential

Experimental investigation of tensile properties and microstructure of TIG welded dissimilar joints of Al6061/Al5083 Aluminium alloy

262-270The welding of aluminium alloys especially in dissimilar combination is challenging owing to numerous problems. The present study focuses to optimize processes parameters for dissimilar welding of 6 mm thick dissimilar Al-6061 and Al-5083, using Tungsten Inert Gas welding as well as to investigate the influence of the process parameters on tensile properties and microstructure of developed welds. A single V-butt joint configuration (bevel angle 60 ̊ and root gap 2 mm) of plates was used for welding. Three levels of input parameters viz. voltage, current and welding speed were selected for performing experiments as per L9 orthogonal array. The hardness and tensile strength were taken as output parameters or performance characteristic in the study. The optimum parameter settings for highest heat affected zone hardness and ultimate tensile strength of dissimilar welds have been suggested by using S/N ratio. The result predicted by optimization has an error of 2-3%. Finally, the effects of voltage, current and welding speed on m icro structure, hardness and tensile strength of welds have been investigated. Welding speed and current were the most influencing process parameter for controlling the hardness of HAZ and tensile strength of the welds