Phytoplanktonic diversity in lake Jaisamand, Rajasthan (India)

The present study describes the diversity of phytoplankton in the lake Jaisamand of Rajasthan (India). Results depict that phytoplankton was contributed by six major groups which comprised total 85 species. Out of which 13 belongs to Myxophyceae, 5 to Euglenophyceae, 38 to Chlorophyceae, 3 to Xanthophyceae, 1 to Cryptophyceae and 23 to Bacillariophyceae. Thus, Bacillariophyceae and Chlorophyceae turned up as the dominant groups in terms of density (159-554 numbers per liter and 24-485 numbers per liter) and species number (23 and 38), respectively. It was revealed that Jaisamand Lake maintained fairly good population of phytoplankton which is indication of providing broad base for achieving high productivity in this water body

Study of the impact of tourists and local visitors / feeders on free-ranging Hanuman langur population in and around Jodhpur, Rajasthan (India)

The Jodhpur city of Rajasthan has many tourist places where Hanuman langurs habitually feed on the food given by the visitors to them. The interactions were studied between Hanuman langurs and the visitors in and around Jodhpur by means of interviewing the visitors and direct observations of the behaviour of Hanuman langurs and visitors. Most (82.2%) of the observed interactions involved the presence of food; only in 17.8% of the interactions we observed langurs threatening or chasing the visitors. Some differences, however, emerged between what the visitors reported in the interviews and what we observed. Most respondents (76.1%) reported in the interviews that hostile interactions were started by monkeys, whereas analysis of the direct interactions showed that 47.3% of such interactions were initiated by visitors and only 39.6% by Hanuman langurs. Moreover, 83.9% of the visitors affirm them to feed Hanuman langurs, while 70.2% of them report having seen other visitors feeding them. On the basis of the above results, it would be beneficial to establish an educational program, providing information about the behaviour of Hanuman langurs and the consequences that feeding them could have on their behaviour and on their interactions with visitors

Study of 3MeV DC Electron Beam Accelerator to implement Distributed Control System

Electron beams with beam energy in the range of 0.2 to 10 MeV have found a large number of industrial applications such as cross linking of plastic film, foam and cables, degradation of scrap Teflon, sterilization of medical products and food irradiation. Keeping these industrial applications in mind, the development and commissioning of a 3 MeV accelerator is being done at Electron Beam Center at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. The accelerator comprises of several sub systems such as Scan magnet supply, Chiller unit, Vacuum unit, High voltage unit and other support sub-systems. All the above subsystems have to be controlled from central location in order to operate and monitor the accelerator safely. Each of the sub-system is controlled by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) independently and their control and safety is ensured by the program logic. After each subsystem is tested separately all the PLCs are connected to the central PLC via Modbus RS232 and Modbus TCP-IP to implement the technology of Distributed Control System (DCS). A DCS refers to a process in which elements from different locations can be controlled by inputs from a remote place by different modes of control implementation

Estimation of uncertainty of effective area of a pneumatic pressure reference standard using Monte Carlo method

The current paper presents a comparative investigation of the experimental as well as simulated evaluation of effective area and the associated uncertainties, of a pneumatic pressure reference standard (NPLI-4) of CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, India, (NPLI). The experimental evaluation has been compared to the simulated estimation of the effective area obtained through Monte Carlo method (MCM). The Monte Carlo method has been applied by taking fixed number of trials (FMCM) and also by trials chosen adaptively (AMCM). The measurement uncertainties have been calculated using the conventional method, i.e., law of propagation of uncertainty (LPU) as well as MCM. Experimentally, the NPLI-4 has cross-floated against our newly established pneumatic primary pressure standard (NPLI-P10), which is a large diameter piston gauge. An excellent agreement in effective area and measurement uncertainty has been observed between these approaches

Synthesis, characterization, and preclinical validation of a PET radiopharmaceutical for interrogating Aβ (β-amyloid) plaques in Alzheimer’s disease

BACKGROUND: PET radiopharmaceuticals capable of imaging β-amyloid (Aβ) plaque burden in the brain could offer highly valuable diagnostic tools for clinical studies of Alzheimer’s disease. To further supplement existing armamentarium of FDA-approved agents as well as those under development, and to correlate multiphoton-imaging data reported earlier, herein, we describe preclinical validation of a PET tracer. METHODS: A novel PET radiopharmaceutical ((18)F-7B) was synthesized and characterized. To assess its affinity for Aβ, binding assays with Aβ(1-42) fibrils, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) homogenates, and autoradiography studies and their IHC correlations were performed. For assessing its overall pharmacokinetic profiles in general and its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in particular, biodistribution studies in normal mice were performed. Finally, for evaluating potential for (18)F-7B to serve as a targeted Aβ probe, the microPET/CT imaging was performed in age-matched amyloid precursor protein/presenilin-1 (APP/PS1) mice and wild-type (WT) counterparts. RESULTS: The radiotracer (18)F-7B shows saturable binding to autopsy-confirmed AD homogenates (K(d) = 17.7 nM) and Aβ(1-42) fibrils (K(d) = 61 nM). Preliminary autoradiography studies show binding of (18)F-7B to cortical Aβ plaques in autopsy-confirmed AD tissue sections, inhibition of that binding by unlabeled counterpart 7A-indicating specificity, and a good correlation of tracer binding with Aβ immunostaining. The agent indicates high initial penetration into brains (7.23 ± 0.47%ID/g; 5 min) of normal mice, thus indicating a 5-min/120-min brain uptake clearance ratio of 4.7, a benchmark value (>4) consistent with the ability of agents to traverse the BBB to enable PET brain imaging. Additionally, (18)F-7B demonstrates the presence of parental species in human serum. Preliminary microPET/CT imaging demonstrates significantly higher retention of (18)F-7B in brains of transgenic mice compared with their WT counterparts, consistent with expected binding of the radiotracer to Aβ plaques, present in APP/PS1 mice, compared with their age-matched WT counterparts lacking those Aβ aggregates. CONCLUSIONS: These data offer a platform scaffold conducive to further optimization for developing new PET tracers to study Aβ pathophysiology in vitro and in vivo

Dewetting of Glassy Polymer Films

Dynamics and morphology of hole growth in a film of power hardening viscoplastic solid (yield stress ~ [strain-rate]^n) is investigated. At short-times the growth is exponential and depends on the initial hole size. At long-times, for n > 1/3, the growth is exponential with a different exponent. However, for n < 1/3, the hole growth slows; the hole radius approaches an asymptotic value as time tends to infinity. The rim shape is highly asymmetric, the height of which has a power law dependence on the hole radius (exponent close to unity for 0.25 < n < 0.4). The above results explain recent intriguing experiments of Reiter, Phys. Rev. Lett, 87, 186101 (2001).Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, RevTe

A generator-produced gallium-68 radiopharmaceutical for PET imaging of myocardial perfusion

Lipophilic cationic technetium-99m-complexes are widely used for myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). However, inherent uncertainties in the supply chain of molybdenum-99, the parent isotope required for manufacturing 99Mo/99mTc generators, intensifies the need for discovery of novel MPI agents incorporating alternative radionuclides. Recently, germanium/gallium (Ge/Ga) generators capable of producing high quality 68Ga, an isotope with excellent emission characteristics for clinical PET imaging, have emerged. Herein, we report a novel 68Ga-complex identified through mechanism-based cell screening that holds promise as a generator-produced radiopharmaceutical for PET MPI

Linkages between environmental factors (WASH and energy) and Infant and Young Child Feeding practices in rural India: implications for cross-sectoral interventions for child health

As factors influencing the health and well-being of children are complex and cross-sectoral, integrated interventions are required to improve child health and hence address the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper explores linkages between environmental factors, feeding practices and potential infection pathways in India. The PANChSHEEEL project is a participatory interdisciplinary study, designed to explore HEEE (Health, Education, Engineering and Environment) factors influencing Infant and Young Child Feeding practices. This study uses data from observational transect walks and 445 household interviews from nine villages in Banswara district in India. Using the socio-ecological model, this study demonstrates how the lack of access to and quality of water resources, poor access to sanitation and hygiene practices, access to cook fuels and flooding can influence feeding practices. The study finds that access to water, sanitation and cooking fuels can affect the preparation of food, contaminate water and food and place added time burden on caregivers. For infants, insufficient and contaminated water can lead to a higher risk of infection, diarrhoea and ultimately malnutrition. Recommendations include efforts to address waterlogging, promote safe storage of water, establish a water quality regime with stakeholders and develop appropriate, affordable and acceptable sanitation solutions

Determinants and implications of the growing scale of livestock farms in four fast-growing developing countries:

"The rapid growth in consumer demand for livestock offers an opportunity to reduce poverty among smallholder livestock farmers in the developing world. These farmers' opportunity may be threatened, however, by competition from larger-scale farms. This report assesses the potential threat, examining various forms of livestock production in Brazil, India, the Philippines, and Thailand. Findings show that the competitiveness of smallholder farms depends on the opportunity cost of family labor and farmers' ability to overcome barriers to the acquisition of production- and market-related information and assets. Pro-poor livestock development depends, therefore, on the strengthening of institutions that will help smallholders overcome the disproportionately high transaction costs in securing quality inputs and obtaining market recognition for quality outputs. These and other findings make this report a useful guide for researchers and others concerned with the opportunities and risks of smallholder livestock farming." from Authors' SummaryDeveloping countries, Economic aspects, Industrialization, Profit efficiency, Environmental externalities, Smallholder competitiveness, Livestock productivity, Livestock Industrialization, Scaling up,