Library Automation in Universities of Karnataka

Attempts to know how, why and under what circumstances university libraries in Karnataka attempted to initiate library automation activities. It studies the status of libraries while initiating automation process and how they plan the need for automation for retrospective collection and current documents and OPAC services rendered along with various services rendered to the service

Genetic Variability and Heritability for Growth and Yield in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Quantification of variability is the most essential pre-breeding tool in any crop improvement programme. The present investigation was carried out to assess variability existing in twenty four diverse cucumber genotypes. Results revealed high phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation for yield per plant, fruit flesh thickness, number of fruits per plant, number of nodes per plant, number of branches per plant, average fruit weight, internode length and vine length. High heritability, coupled with high genetic advance as per cent mean, was recorded for all the characters studied except days to first female-flower opening, days to 50% flowering and days to first-fruit harvest, indicating a scope for improvement through selection

Screening a set of tomato parental lines and their hybrids for resistance to early blight (Alternaria solani) by detached leaf method

Nine parental lines and 18 hybrids derived by crossing them in Line × Tester fashion were screened against the early blight pathogen Alternaria solani along with a resistant, susceptible and a commercial check in the form of Arka Rakshak, IIHR2202 and Abhinava respectively. Parental lines and the resistant and susceptible checks were screened over two seasons and results obtained were almost similar with the line IIHR1816 exhibiting resistance with the disease severity of 25 % in both the trials, while the line IIHR977 was found to be resistant in the first season with PDI of 25 % and moderately resistant in the second season with the slightest increase in the disease severity up to 25.6 %. None of the hybrids were found to be resistant except, whereas about eight hybrids were found to be moderately resistant. IIHR2892 x IIHR2853 was found to be highly susceptible with severity of 68.75 %, which is on par with the susceptible check IIHR2202 (70.50 %). The results obtained from the detached leaf method of screening should be confirmed by the field or greenhouse screening methods before using them in further breeding programmes

Foraging specificity of Tetralonia (Thygatina) macroceps (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Anthophorinae) on Argyreia cuneata (Convolvulaceae)

Floral specificity is a behavior that evolved due to mutualistic interactions between the plant-pollinator community. Flowers advertise themselves using visual or chemical cues to attract pollinators and gain reproductive success through pollination. Pollinators forage for rewards such as nectar or pollen produced by the flowers. We found that an anthophorid bee, Tetralonia macroceps, foraged specifically on Argyreia cuneata flowers. No visitation was observed on the flowers of A. nervosa though both belong to Convolvulaceae. T. macroceps was the most abundant floral visitor (5.21 bees/flower/5 min) on A. cuneata and did not visit A. nervosa. Mass flowering and narrow tubular flower structure with easy access to pollen in A. cuneata were the traits that accounted for the foraging specificity of T. macroceps. The present study investigates the preference of T. macroceps for the flowers and floral extracts of A. cuneata and A. nervosa. The bee visited 10.16 flowers/5 min of A. cuneata. T. macroceps were highly attracted to the flowers of A. cuneata. No bees were attracted to A. nervosa. The floral abundance of A. cuneata was relatively higher compared to A. nervosa. Pollen analysis of foraging bees of T. macroceps revealed the selective preference towards the pollen of A. cuneata. The highest number of bees preferred the extract of A. cuneata (7.75) compared to A. nervosa (0.50) in the Y-olfactory maze. Floral extract of A. cuneata caused the highest neuronal electroantennogram (EAG) response (1.48 mV) than A. nervosa (0.36 mV). Our preliminary studies indicated the presence of specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) nonacosane (13.26%), hexatriacontane (12.06%), and beta farnesene (6.19%) observed in A. cuneata were absent in congener A. nervosa

Epidemiology of ChiVMV and loss assessment in capsicum (Capsicum annum var. grossum Sendt)

The survey was conducted during rabi season (2021) to determine the incidence of mosaic disease of capsicum in major capsicum growing districts namely, Chikkaballapura, Kolar, Bengaluru rural and Ramanagar. The per cent incidence of mosaic disease based on symptoms in field was recorded, highest in Ramanagar (54.85%) and the least incidence of mosaic disease was observed in Chikkaballapura (26.85%). Transmission and host range studies under glasshouse conditions revealed that ChiVMV is transmitted mechanically. Among 16 host plants tested, 7 plant species (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun, N. glutinosa, N. occidentalis, Datura metel, Physalis floridana, S. nigrum, Capsicum annum) were infected with the Chilli veinal mottle virus disease and the symptom could be seen in 20-25 days. The per cent transmission of ChiVMV by aphid Aphis gossypii was studied. The results showed that ChiVMV can be transmitted by A. gossypii. However, five aphids per plant showed highest per cent transmission (100%). The effect of different dates of inoculation on different plant growth parameters was also studied, the highest per cent disease transmission was observed in T1: Inoculation 15 days after sowing (100.00%)

Cancer impacts microRNA expression, release and function in cardiac and skeletal muscle

Circulating microRNAs are emerging as important biomarkers of various diseases including cancer. Intriguingly, circulating levels of several microRNAs are lower in cancer patients compared with healthy individuals. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a circulating microRNA might serve as a surrogate of the effects of cancer on microRNA expression or release in distant organs. Here we report that circulating levels of the muscle-enriched miR-486 is lower in breast cancer patients compared with healthy individuals, and that this difference is replicated faithfully in MMTV-PyMT and MMTV-Her2 transgenic mouse models of breast cancer. In tumor-bearing mice, levels of miR-486 were relatively reduced in muscle, where there was elevated expression of the miR-486 target genes PTEN and FOXO1A and dampened signaling through the PI3K/AKT pathway. Skeletal muscle expressed lower levels of the transcription factor MyoD which controls miR-486 expression. Conditioned media (CM) obtained from MMTV-PyMT and MMTV-Her2/Neu tumor cells cultured in vitro was sufficient to elicit reduced levels of miR-486 and increased PTEN and FOXO1A expression in C2C12 murine myoblasts. Cytokine analysis implicated TNFα and four additional cytokines as mediators of miR-486 expression in CM-treated cells. Since miR-486 is a potent modulator of PI3K/AKT signaling and the muscle-enriched transcription factor network in cardiac/skeletal muscle, our findings implicated TNFα-dependent miRNA circuitry in muscle differentiation and survival pathways in cancer

Induced variability for yield and its attributing traits in cluster bean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L. ) Taub] through gamma irradiation

Gamma ray is an effective mutagen which creates useful variability for crop like cluster bean where the natural variation is very meagre and creation of variability by conventional methods is cumbersome. In the present study, cluster bean cv. Pusa Navbahar was treated with different level of gamma rays from 50 Gy to 600 Gy with 50Gy interval and obtained M2 population was subjected to variability estimation for yield and its attributing traits in augmented block design. The variance between the control and the mutants was found to be significant for plant height, number of pods per cluster, number of pods per plant, pod length, pod width, pulp to seed ratio. For these traits, PCV ranged from 14.28 per cent (pod width) to 31.99 per cent (pulp to seed ratio) whereas, GCV ranged from 10.10 per cent (pod width) to 24.16 per cent (pulp to seed ratio). The heritability in broad sense ranged from 50 per cent (pod width) to 79.99 per cent (Plant height). Genetic advance expressed as percentage over mean ranged from 2.06 per cent (pod width) to 222.44 per cent (plant height). The traits like plant height, pod length, pod width, pulp to seed ratio showed sufficient variability due to induced mutation. All these traits showed medium to high heritability and high genetic advance hence selection for these traits will be effective

A prospective study on correlation of cord blood bilirubin with occurrence of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia

Background: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is one of the most common problems that can occur in a healthy new-born. This physiological rise in indirect component of bilirubin resolves gradually without any intervention in majority of cases. But few babies require intervention in the form of phototherapy and exchange transfusion when the bilirubin levels exceed the normal physiological range for gestational age. The study was aimed to evaluate the predictive value of cord blood bilirubin level for identifying newborn for development of significant hyperbilirubinemia. Methods: It was a prospective observational study carried out in Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, B.G. Nagara, Karnataka. The cord blood bilirubin at birth and 48 hrs serum bilirubin levels were measured. Also, blood group, Rh status and DCT (direct coomb’s test) were tested to estimate the risk in development of hyperbilirubinemia. Results: A total of 210 were included in the study, out of which 52 babies required phototherapy, with a sensitivity of 94.23% and specificity of 3.97%, with the mean cord blood bilirubin level of 2.6mg/dl, having sensitivity of 63.46% and specificity of 90.50%. The multivariate analysis showed ABO and Rh incompatibility, cord blood bilirubin level and lower gestational age had an increased the risk of hyperbilirubinemia requiring phototherapy. Conclusions: Cord blood bilirubin may be used as a potential tool to determine hyperbilirubinemia in newborns. And initiation of phototherapy early in at-risk neonates may decrease the hyperbilirubinemia related morbidity and mortality

Characterization of brown streak virus-resistant cassava

Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) has become a major constraint to cassava production in East and Central Africa. The identification of new sources of CBSD resistance is essential to deploy CBSD mitigation strategies as the disease is progressing westwards to new geographical areas. A stringent infection method based on top cleft grafting combined with precise virus titer quantitation was utilized to screen fourteen cassava cultivars and elite breeding lines. When inoculated with mixed infections of Cassava brown streak virus (CBSV) and Ugandan cassava brown streak virus (UCBSV), the scions of elite breeding lines KBH 2006/18 and KBH 2006/26 remained symptom-free during a 16-week period of virus graft inoculation, while susceptible varieties displayed typical CBSD infection symptoms at 4 weeks after grafting. The identified CBSD resistance was stable under the co-inoculation of CBSV, UCBSV with cassava geminiviruses (CGMs). Double grafting experiments revealed that transmission of CBSV and UCBSV to CBSD susceptible top scions was delayed when using intermediate scions of elite breeding lines KBH 2006/18 and KBH 2006/26. Nonetheless, comparison of virus systemic movement using scions from KBH2006/18 and a transgenic CBSD resistant 60444 line (60444-Hp9 line) showed that both CBSV and UCBSV move at undetectable levels through the stems. Further, protoplast-based assays of virus titers over time showed that the replication of CBSVs is inhibited in the resistant line KBH2006/18, suggesting that the identified CBSD resistance is at least partially based on inhibition of virus replication. Our molecular characterization of CBSD resistance in cassava offers a robust virus–host system to further investigate the molecular determinants of CBSD resistance

NF-κB-dependent and -independent epigenetic modulation using the novel anti-cancer agent DMAPT

The transcription factor nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) is constitutively active in several cancers and is a target of therapeutic development. We recently developed dimethylaminoparthenolide (DMAPT), a clinical grade water-soluble analog of parthenolide, as a potent inhibitor of NF-κB and demonstrated in vitro and in vivo anti-tumor activities in multiple cancers. In this study, we show DMAPT is an epigenetic modulator functioning in an NF-κB-dependent and -independent manner. DMAPT-mediated NF-κB inhibition resulted in elevated histone H3K36 trimethylation (H3K36me3), which could be recapitulated through genetic ablation of the p65 subunit of NF-κB or inhibitor-of-kappaB alpha super-repressor overexpression. DMAPT treatment and p65 ablation increased the levels of H3K36 trimethylases NSD1 (KMT3B) and SETD2 (KMT3A), suggesting that NF-κB directly represses their expression and that lower H3K36me3 is an epigenetic marker of constitutive NF-κB activity. Overexpression of a constitutively active p65 subunit of NF-κB reduced NSD1 and H3K36me3 levels. NSD1 is essential for DMAPT-induced expression of pro-apoptotic BIM, indicating a functional link between epigenetic modification and gene expression. Interestingly, we observed enhanced H4K20 trimethylation and induction of H4K20 trimethylase KMT5C in DMAPT-treated cells independent of NF-κB inhibition. These results add KMT5C to the list NF-κB-independent epigenetic targets of parthenolide, which include previously described histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC-1) and DNA methyltransferase 1. As NSD1 and SETD2 are known tumor suppressors and loss of H4K20 trimethylation is an early event in cancer progression, which contributes to genomic instability, we propose DMAPT as a potent pharmacologic agent that can reverse NF-κB-dependent and -independent cancer-specific epigenetic abnormalities