Effect of immersion systems on chlorophyll contents in micro-propagating banana

Banana is a nutritionally as well as economically important plant for which (Basrai variety) an efficient micro-propagation protocol was developed by using micro-stem cutting, as an explant. The maximum numbers of plantlets with higher chlorophyll and lower carotenoid contents were observed, which developed through routinely used tissue culture system (10.0 ìM BA; 8.0 ìM IAA; 3.0 g/L phytagel) for organogenesis, permanent immersion system (10.0 ìM BA; 1.0 g/L phytagel) for shoot induction andtemporary immersion system (10.0 ìM BA; 2.0 g/L phytagel) for shoot multiplication. The developed plantlets were cultured on 0.5 MS medium with IBA (0.01 mg/L). Rooted plantlets were successfully transferred to field after initial acclimatization

Sugar cane bagasse pretreatment: An attempt to enhance the production potential of cellulases by Humicola insolens TAS-13

Pretreatment of the cellulosic substrate has miracle effect on the enhancement of cellulase production by fungal strains. A thermophilic strain of Humicola insolens TAS-13 was locally isolated and was tested for cellulases production under solid-state fermentation conditions using sugar cane bagasse as substrate. The cultural conditions for the H. insolens were also optimized for the higher rate of cellulase secretion. In order to enhance the production rate of heterogenouscellulosic proteins, bagasse was pretreated with NaOH, H2SO4, H2O2 and H2O2+1.5%NaOH. The pretreatment of bagasse with 2.0% H2O2 along with 1.5% NaOH enhanced the biosynthesis of cellulases by H. insolens. Production rate was also optimized with different parameters like thickness of fermentation medium, initial pH, incubation time and temperature. The thickness of the fermentation medium of 0.8 cm (10 g) with pH range of 5.5 was found to be better for enhanced production at 50°C. The yield of the enzyme was reached maximum with CMC-ase (18.98 U/g/min), FP-ase (13.63 U/g/min), -glucosidase (19.54 U/g/min) 72 h after inoculation

Prevalence and association of obesity with self-reported comorbidity: a cross-sectional study of 1321 adult participants in Lasbela, Balochistan

Association of fatness with chronic metabolic diseases is a well-established fact, and a high prevalence of risk factors for these disorders has increasingly been reported in the third world. In order to incorporate any preventive strategies for such risk factors into clinical practice, decision-makers require objective evidence about the associated burden of disease. A cross-sectional study of 1321 adults from one of the districts of Balochistan, among the most economically challenged areas of Pakistan, was carried out for the measures of fatness and self-reported comorbidities. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were measured and demographic information and self-reported comorbidities were documented.The prevalence of obesity was 4.8% (95% CI: [3.8, 6.1]) and 21.7% (95% CI: [19.5, 24.0]), as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) international and Asia/Asia-Pacific BMI cut-offs, respectively. The proportion exhibiting comorbidity increased with increasing levels of fatness in a dose-response relationship

Heaviness, health and happiness: a cross-sectional study of 163 066 UK Biobank participants

<b>Background</b><p></p> Obesity is known to increase the risk of many diseases and reduce overall quality of life. This study examines the relationship with self-reported health (SRH) and happiness.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> <p></p>We conducted a cross-sectional study of the 163 066 UK Biobank participants who completed the happiness rating. The association between adiposity and SRH and happiness was examined using logistic regression. SRH was defined as good (excellent, good), or poor (fair, poor). Self-reported happiness was defined as happy (extremely, very, moderately) or unhappy (moderately, very, extremely). <p></p> <b>Results</b> <p></p>Poor health was reported by 44 457 (27.3%) participants. The adjusted ORs for poor health were 3.86, 2.92, 2.60 and 6.41 for the highest, compared with lowest, deciles of Body Mass Index, waist circumference, waist to hip ratio and body fat percent, respectively. The associations were stronger in men (p<0.001). Overall, 7511 (4.6%) participants felt unhappy, and only class III obese participants were more likely to feel unhappy (adjusted OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.53, p<0.001) but the associations differed by sex (p<0.001). Among women, there was a significant association between unhappiness and all levels of obesity. By contrast, only class III obese men had significantly increased risk and overweight and class I obese men were less likely to be unhappy. <p></p> <b>Conclusions</b><p></p>Obesity impacts adversely on happiness as well as health, but the association with unhappiness disappeared after adjustment for self-reported health, indicating this may be mediated by health. Compared with obese men, obese women are less likely to report poor health, but more likely to feel unhappy. <p></p&gt

Water-pipe smoking and albuminuria: new dog with old tricks

Water-pipe (WP) smoking is on rise worldwide for the past few years, particularly among younger individuals. Growing evidence indicates that WP smoking is as harmful as cigarette smoking. To date, most of the research has focused on acute health effects of WP smoking, and evidence remains limited when it comes to chronic health effects in relation to long-term WP smoking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the association between WP smoking and albuminuria in apparently healthy individuals. This analysis was conducted on data of a population-based cross-sectional study—the Urban Rural Chronic Diseases Study (URCDS). The study sample was recruited from three sites in Pakistan. Trained nurses carried out individual interviews and obtained the information on demographics, lifestyle factors, and past and current medical history. Measurements of complete blood count, lipid profile, fasting glucose level, and 24-hour albuminuria were also made by using blood and urine samples. Albumin excretion was classified into three categories using standard cut-offs: normal excretion, high-normal excretion and microalbuminuria. Multiple logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship between WP smoking and albuminuria. The final analysis included data from 1,626 health individuals, of which 829 (51.0%) were males and 797 (49.0%) females. Of 1,626 individuals, 267 (16.4%) were current WP smokers and 1,359 (83.6%) were non-WP smokers. WP smoking was significantly associated with high-normal albuminuria (OR = 2.33, 95% CI 1.68-3.22, p-value <0.001) and microalbuminuria (OR = 1.75, 95% CI 1.18-2.58, p-value 0.005) after adjustment for age, sex, BMI, social class, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. WP smoking was significantly associated with high-normal albuminuria and microalbuminuria when analysis was stratified on hypertension and diabetes mellitus categories. WP smoking has a strong association with albuminuria in apparently healthy individuals. More research is warranted to evaluate the temporality of this association between WP smoking and albuminuria

Metabolic engineering and thermodynamic characterization of an extracellular β-glucosidase produced by Aspergillus niger

The production of an extracellular β-glucosidase by Aspergillus niger NRRL 599 was optimized using submerged fermentation technique. Effect of different media, different carbon sources, initial pH of the fermentation medium, temperature, incubation period and inoculum size on the production of β- glucosidase enzyme was investigated. A. niger NRRL 599 produced maximum extracellular β- glucosidase (4.48 U/mg) in Eggins and Pugh medium with 1% wheat bran (w/v) at pH 5.5 inoculated with 4% conidial suspension after 96 h of incubation at 30°C. Purified β-glucosidase gave Km and Vmax values of 3.11 mM and 20.83 U/mg respectively for pNPG hydrolysis. The enzyme was optimally active at pH 4.8 and at temperature of 60°C. Thermodynamic parameters, Ea, ΔH and ΔS were found to be 52.17 KJ/mol, 49.90 J/mol.K and -71.69 KJ/mol, respectively. The pKa1 and pKa2 of ionizable groups of active site residues involved in Vmax were calculated to be 4.1 and 6.0 respectively.Key words: β-Glucosidase, Aspergillus niger, kinetics, thermodynamics

Dynamic Modeling and Heat Flow Study of a Thermal Power Plant Using OpenModelica

With the integration of intermittent energy sources in the power system, the main focus of thermal power plant design is to optimize the conventional system by improving efficiency and flexibility of power generation in the start-up and base-load procedures. This paper focuses on the behavior of thermal power generation with respect to load variations, fuel variations, weather conditions and internal dynamics of the system to aid in energy planning and the optimization of power system. Dynamic modeling and subsequent simulation is to make improvements. Therefore, to model the system, this research study has used a dynamic modeling and a simulation framework (OpenModelica based on modelica language) which is an object-oriented and equation-based language. This framework allows a non-causal modeling and a flexible reuse of the models since data-flow direction is not predefined like other state of the art simulating tools i.e. MATLAB. The proposed model analyses the trend of electrical power generation of KOT ADDU thermal power plant to predict the future demand of electrical power. The achieved results show more than 90% accuracy of the proposed model in the transient operation such as start-up and base load procedure

Growth responses of NaCl stressed rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants germinated from seed in aseptic nutrient cultures supplemented with proline

Negative impact of salinity on plant germination is significant because of abundance of Na+ in culture medium, which causes growth inhibition. Effect of salinity (NaCl) in the presence of proline was assessed in rice (Oryza sativa L.) variety Khushbo-95 at seedling stage. Seeds were cultured on MS0 (MS basal medium), MS1 (MS0 + 100 mM NaCl) and MS2 (MS1 + 5 mM proline) for 20 days. Seedlings and its biomass decreased in saline culture. Similarly, total protein and sugar contents also decreased, while reducing sugars and proline contents increased. These parameters were observed to be slightly adverse in cultures supplemented with proline (MS2) and NaCl (MS2). Among cultures, leaf demography (cell size) was affected significantly; this may be the reflection of accumulation of proline, Na+ and Cl- and exclusion of K+ in developed rice seedlings.Key words: Oryza sativa L., seedling biomass, epidermal cells, proline content

Gender differences in the association between adiposity and probable major depression: a cross-sectional study of 140,564 UK Biobank participants

<b>Background</b><p></p> Previous studies on the association between adiposity and mood disorder have produced contradictory results, and few have used measurements other than body mass index (BMI). We examined the association between probable major depression and several measurements of adiposity: BMI, waist circumference (WC), waist-hip-ratio (WHR), and body fat percentage (BF%).<p></p> <b>Methods</b><p></p> We conducted a cross-sectional study using baseline data on the sub-group of UK Biobank participants who were assessed for mood disorder. Multivariate logistic regression models were used, adjusting for potential confounders including: demographic and life-style factors, comorbidity and psychotropic medication.<p></p> <b>Results</b><p></p> Of the 140,564 eligible participants, evidence of probable major depression was reported by 30,145 (21.5%). The fully adjusted odds ratios (OR) for obese participants were 1.16 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12, 1.20) using BMI, 1.15 (95% CI 1.11, 1.19) using WC, 1.09 (95% CI 1.05, 1.13) using WHR and 1.18 (95% CI 1.12, 1.25) using BF% (all p <0.001). There was a significant interaction between adiposity and gender (p = 0.001). Overweight women were at increased risk of depression with a dose response relationship across the overweight (25.0-29.9 kg/m2), obese I (30.0-34.9 kg/m2), II (35.0-39.9 kg/m2) and III (≥40.0 kg/m2) categories; fully adjusted ORs 1.14, 1.20, 1.29 and 1.48, respectively (all p < 0.001). In contrast, only obese III men had significantly increased risk of depression (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.08, 1.54, p = 0.006).<p></p> <b>Conclusion</b><p></p> Adiposity was associated with probable major depression, irrespective of the measurement used. The association was stronger in women than men. Physicians managing overweight and obese women should be alert to this increased risk