Allele-specific primer based identification of dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor

Wheat is one of the most important staple food crops cultivated over 200 mha in the range of environment throughout the world. Wheat production must continue to increase by 2% annually, more particularly in developing world including south-east Asia. Besides increasing the inherent productivity of wheat, it is important to minimize the losses caused to production by various abiotic and biotic factors. Alpha–amylase inhibitors are attractive candidates for the control of seed weevils as these insects are highly dependent on starch as the energy source. They play an important role in the carbohydrate metabolism of many heterotrophic and autotrophic organisms. In this study, we aimed to make sequence comparison and phylogenetic relationship among dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor genes. These genes were clustered into two major groups based on phylogenetic analysis. Multiple alignments show at least 24 candidates single nucleotide polymorphisms in inhibitor genes, which could further be exploited for SNPs based haplotype diversity among Indian released wheat genotype. We have detected dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor genes in cultivated and wild ancestors of wheat using genome specific primers. Genes encoding dimeric alpha-amylase belong to the family of 24 kDa alpha-amylase inhibitors. In this study, specific primer pairs were designed based on SNPs of these genes and chromosome locations of inhibitor genes confirmed by amplification in accession of T. urartu, A. tauschii, and A. speltoides. Results obtained under this study support that inhibitor genes amplified with primer PSWDAIAF1/PSWDAIAF2 and PSWDAIBF1/PSWDAIBF2 is present on genome B. These results further support evidence at molecular level that dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor in cultivated wheat is encoded by a multigene family.

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Analysis of Fermi-LAT data from Tucana-II: Possible constraints on the Dark Matter models with an intriguing hint of a signal

Tucana-II (Tuc-II), a recently discovered and confirmed Ultra Faint Dwarf Spheroidal galaxy, has a high mass to light ratio as well as a large line-of-sight stellar velocity dispersion, thus making it an ideal candidate for an indirect dark matter (DM) search. In this paper, we have analyzed nine years of $\gamma$-ray data obtained from the \textit{Fermi}-LAT instrument from the direction of Tuc-II. The fact that a very weak significant $\gamma$-ray excess ($2.2\sigma$) over the background of Tuc-II have been detected from the location of this galaxy. We have observed that this excess of $\gamma$-ray emission from the of location Tuc-II rises with longer periods of data. If WIMP pair annihilation is assumed for this faint emission, for $b\bar{b}$ annihilation channel the test statistics (TS) value peaks at DM mass $\sim$ 14 GeV and for $\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ annihilation channel it peaks at DM mass 4 GeV. It is then called for an estimation of the $95\%$ confidence level upper limit of the possible velocity weighted self-annihilation cross-section of the DM particles (WIMPs) within Tuc-II by fitting the observed $\gamma$-ray flux with spectra expected for DM annihilation. The estimated upper limits of the cross-sections from Tuc-II are then compared with two other dwarf galaxies that are considered to be good DM candidates in several studies. We have also compared our results with the cross-sections obtained in various popular theoretical models of the WIMPs to find that our results impose reasonable tight constraints on the parameter spaces of those DM models. In the concluding section, we compared our results with the similar results obtained from a combined dSph analysis by the \textit{Fermi}-LAT collaboration as well as the results obtained from the studies of DM in the dwarf galaxies by the major ground-based Cherenkov experiments.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, 7 table

A Review on Formative Assessment Strategies in English Teaching-Learning of CBSE Schools

Formative assessment as the assessment of learning takes the shape of summative in general, and thus becomes assessment of learning in majority of the CBSE schools. This is not well addressed in majority of them, either because of the negligence or lack of professionalism of the teachers towards the teaching learning process in general, and English in particular. The experiences of capacity building programme for teachers on CCE, clearly indicates that like other school subjects or more, English teaching learning fails to design and implement formative assessment in its real essence. Over emphasis on the quantity of work and the products, rather than the processes, teacher initiated formative assessment activities defeat the scope for diagnosis and remediation, which are supposed to be the heart and soul of any formative assessment. Unfortunately assessment becomes mere teacher activity for collecting evidences. This paper is based on the survey and discussion with teachers, to discuss about the misconceptions of English teachers about formative assessment, how English teaching learning nullifies the scope of applied reasoning and re-emphasizes rote learning through worksheets, projects. Though the teachers try to design formative assessment techniques, in implementation they fail for the real formative assessment rather it becomes another summative. This paper also attempts to suggest some measures to improve the formative assessment in English teaching learning process

Investigating the region of 3C 397 in High Energy Gamma rays

We investigate the supernova remnant (SNR) 3C 397 and its neighboring pulsar PSR J1906+0722 in high energy gamma rays by using nearly six years of archival data of {\it Large Area Telescope} on board {\it Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope} (Fermi-LAT). The off-pulse analysis of gamma-ray flux from the location of PSR J1906+0722 reveals an excess emission which is found to be very close to the radio location of 3C 397. Here, we present the preliminary results of this gamma-ray analysis of 3C 397 and PSR J1906+0722.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Proceeding of IAU Symposium No. 331, 201

Traffic engineering and path protection in MPLS virtual private networks

Traffic Engineering (TE) attempts to establish paths for the flow of data in a network so as to optimize the resource utilization and maximize the network performance. One of the main goals of Traffic Engineering is to bring about efficient and reliable network operations. Constraint based routing is the key to Multiprotocol label switching TE. Constraint based routing helps to manage traffic paths within a MPLS network and allows for traffic to flow along certain desired paths. MPLS also supports explicit routing thus providing TE capabilities. MPLS TE enables resiliency and reliability to be built into networks, thus increasing the value and availability of the network. TE is deployed in MPLS networks by providing TE extensions to interior gateway protocols like OSPF and IS-IS. MPLS creates a connection oriented model over the traditional connectionless framework of IP based networks. This connection oriented model helps to overcome several shortcomings of the IP network and also provide the necessary framework to give quality guarantees to IP traffic. Quality of Service (QoS) can be built into MPLS networks where TE is used. MPLS has made significant progress in recent years and is used for deployment of networks all over the world. In this thesis, we propose several constraint-based routing algorithms for MPLS based VPN\u27s. Our algorithms support routing of both Quality of Service (QoS) and BE traffic over the MPLS network. We have implemented a route based and a link based approach for routing of QoS and BE traffic. We also implement the 1 + 1 and 1 : 1 link disjoint and node disjoint path protection mechanisms for the QoS traffic. We study the effect of the various parameters used in our equations such as epsilon, granularity, earning rate and hop count. The problem is formulated as a multicommodity flow (MCF) problem and is solved using the optimization tool - ILOG CPLEX. Our approach is scalable to large networks having a number of VPN\u27s

Life cycle assessment of solid waste management options: A Review

Evaluating the environmental performance of municipal solid waste management options is a complex job. LCA is an analytical tool (software) for assessing the environmental acceptability of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) options. LCA is currently being used in several countries to evaluate different strategies for integrated solid waste management and to evaluate treatment options for waste fractions. According to the characteristics of solid wastes, and availability of disposal options, LCA helps in supporting the identification of opportunities for pollution prevention and reductions in resource consumption while taking the entire solid waste life cycle. The primary elements of solid waste management are generation, collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal. Different scenarios were developed and reported as alternatives to the current waste management systems. The most prominent is material recovery facility (MRF) and other methods involve source reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, incineration, energy recovery, on-site burial, open burning and bioremediation. The goal of this review is to determine the most environmentally friendly option of MSWM system with the help of LCA

Isolated fallopian tube torsion

Fallopian tube torsion is a rare cause of acute abdomen, occurring commonly in females of reproductive age. It lacks pathognomonic symptoms, signs, or imaging features, thus causing delay in surgical intervention. Current study report one case of isolated fallopian tube torsion in adolescent girl. In this case a 13 year old patient presented with acute pain in the right iliac region associated with 3 episodes of vomiting for one day and severe tenderness on examination. Laparoscopy revealed right sided twisted fallopian tube associated with gangrenous fimbrial end. The tube was untwisted and salpingectomy done. Salpingectomy was done as the tube was gangrenous. Fallopian tube torsion, though rare, should be considered in women of reproductive age with unilateral pelvic pain. Early diagnostic laparoscopy is important for an accurate diagnosis and could prevent the rupture of the gangrenous tube.

Study of iatrogenic bladder injury in vaginal hysterectomy: our experience

Background: This study was carried out to calculate the incidence of bladder injury detected during benign gynecologic vaginal hysterectomy. This investigation examined the clinical features of urologic complications during gynecologic surgery and outcome of their management.Methods: It was a retrospective study done at Department of Gynecology, GCS medical college, Ahmedabad from year 2012-2016. All patients undergoing vaginal hysterectomy for benign diseases were included in the study. This study assessed the causative disease and surgical approach type, and treatment method of the bladder injury.Results: Of these 237 patients who underwent vaginal hysterectomies, 3 (1.26%) had bladder perforation. All the 3 cases of bladder injury underwent primary suturing during surgery without complications.Conclusions: Bladder injury was the most common urological injury during obstetric and gynecologic surgery. Early diagnosis and urologic intervention is important for better outcomes