Assessment of phytotoxic potential of oil palm leaflet, rachis and frond extracts and powders on goosegrass (Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.) germination, emergence and seedling growth

In order to achieve higher yields and protect crops from competition with weeds, various herbicides are widely employed in plantations and farms. However, the excessive use of herbicides has caused adverse impact to agricultural areas and water sources through the process of leaching and water infiltration besides causing herbicide resistance in weeds like goosegrass (Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.). This study aimed to determine the phytotoxic potential of oil palm residue extracts and residues on goosegrass under laboratory and glasshouse conditions. Crude extracts of oil palm residues, viz; leaflet, rachis or frond was applied onto Petri dishes containing goosegrass seeds. Leaflet, rachis or frond powder was manually applied as mulching on the soil surface sown with goosegrass seeds. Rachis powder was the most effective treatment where it reduced emergence and growth of goosegrass seedlings by approximately 20 and 50% at 4 t ha-1, respectively, while the rachis extract provided complete inhibition of goosegrass germination at a concentration of as low as 1.0% (w/v). These results suggest that oil palm rachis powder has the potential to be an alternative to commercial herbicides for goosegrass control

Optimisation of a PC12 Cell-based In Vitro Stroke Model for Screening Potential Neuroprotective Agents

Aims/Objective: PC12 cells can be differentiated into a neuronal phenotype with nerve growth factor (NGF), and were widely used as an in vitro stroke model for screening neuroprotective agents. However, certain PC12 cell variants were reported to be nonresponsive to NGF for differentiation, while optimisation studies of media and growth surface substrates are rare. This study aimed to test three commonly used PC12 variants for growth parameters and differentiation ability to set up an optimal in vitro stroke model. Methods: PC12 cells (Riken cell bank), PC12 Adh and PC12 Neuroscreen-1(NS-1) cells were tested. The optimisation included cell culture medium, substrate, response to NGF-induced differentiation and duration of oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) by measuring cell viability and apoptosis. Validation of the in vitro system was done by testing with a known neuroprotectant, 8-OH-DPAT. Results: The optimal culture media for PC12 cells (Riken) and NS-1 cells was DMEM. Collagen IV was the best substrate for PC12 cells (Riken) and NS-1 cells. PC12 Adh showed no preference for media or substrates. NS-1 cells gave the highest NGF-induced differentiation (72.7%), followed by PC12 (Riken,36%) and PC12 Adh (6.9%). NS-1 achieved optimal differentiation after three days of 150 ng/ml NGF treatment. Treatment with 8-OH-DPAT on NGF-differentiated NS-1 cells after three hours of OGD showed a significant reduction in apoptosis (P<0.05). Conclusion: An in vitro stroke model using NS-1 cells grown in DMEM with collagen IV was optimised as substrate. Differentiated NS-1 cells subjected to 3-hour OGD had enabled the screening of neuroprotectants for treatment of stroke

ACHIKO-D350: A dataset for early AMD detection and drusen segmentation

Age related macular degeneration is the third leading cause of global blindness. Its prevalence is increasing in these years for the coming of ”aging population”. Early detection and grading can prevent it from becoming severe and protect vision. Drusen is an important indicator for AMD. Thus automatic drusen detection and segmentation has attracted much research attention in the past years. However, a barrier handicapping the research of drusen segmentation is the lack of a public dataset and test platform. To address this issue, in this paper, we publish a dataset, named ACHIKO-D350, with manually marked drusen boundary. ACHIKO-D350 includes 254 healthy fundus images and 96 fundus images with drusen. The images with drusen cover a wide range of types, including images with sparsely distributed drusen or clumped drusen, images of poor quality, and both well macular centered images and mis-centered images. ACHIKO-D350 will be used for performance evaluation of drusen segmentation methods. It will facilitate an objective evaluation and comparison

Lung cancer in Chinese women: Evidence for an interaction between tobacco smoking and exposure to inhalants in the indoor environment

10.1289/ehp.0901587Environmental Health Perspectives11891257-126

Entanglement preparation using symmetric multiports

We investigate the entanglement produced by a multi-path interferometer that is composed of two symmetric multiports, with phase shifts applied to the output of the first multiport. Particular attention is paid to the case when we have a single photon entering the interferometer. For this situation we derive a simple condition that characterize the types of entanglement that one can generate. We then show how one can use the results from the single photon case to determine what kinds of multi-photon entangled states one can prepare using the interferometer.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in European Journal of Physics

Entanglement preparation using symmetric multiports

We investigate the entanglement produced by a multi-path interferometer that is composed of two symmetric multiports, with phase shifts applied to the output of the first multiport. Particular attention is paid to the case when we have a single photon entering the interferometer. For this situation we derive a simple condition that characterize the types of entanglement that one can generate. We then show how one can use the results from the single photon case to determine what kinds of multi-photon entangled states one can prepare using the interferometer.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in European Journal of Physics

The Vega debris disc: A view from Herschel

We present five band imaging of the Vega debris disc obtained using the Herschel Space Observatory. These data span a wavelength range of 70-500 mu m with full-width half-maximum angular resolutions of 5.6-36.9 ''. The disc is well resolved in all bands, with the ring structure visible at 70 and 160 mu m. Radial profiles of the disc surface brightness are produced, and a disc radius of 11 '' (similar to 85AU) is determined. The disc is seen to have a smooth structure thoughout the entire wavelength range, suggesting that the disc is in a steady state, rather than being an ephemeral structure caused by the recent collision of two large planetesimals