Development of RAPD, DAMD and ISSR markers for authentication of medicinal plant Cassia auriculata and its adulterant Cassia surattensis

Cassia auriculata is an important traditional medicinal plant commonly used in many Ayurvedic formulations, meant for diabetes, rheumatism, conjunctivitis, infertility and etc. But due to similar morphological characters and misidentifications, adulteration from Cassia surattensis has been observed. Since safety and efficacy of herbal products has become a major concern due to adulterations, DNA profiling which is an effective and cheap method can be used to solve this problem by discriminating the genuine material. However, no reports about the genetic identification for these species are available to our knowledge. Therefore, the present study was devoted to developing Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Direct Amplification of Minisatellite-region DNA (DAMD) and Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) DNA profiles to authenticate C. auriculata and C. surattensis. As the first step, fresh leaf samples from both plant species were randomly collected from Gampaha district, Sri Lanka and genomic DNA were extracted using modified Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTAB) protocols. Four short arbitrary primers, two core primers and two SSR primers were used respectively with three different Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) based molecular markers which were RAPD, DAMD and ISSR to develop DNA profiles. Out of eight primers, three arbitrary primers, OP-F03, OP-U10 and OP-U20 and one core primer, HBV(5) yielded clear and reproducible amplification products. These results clearly discriminated the medicinal plant C. auriculata and the adulterant C. surattensis providing a complementary tool for quality control of plant derived herbal medicinal products. However, both SSR primers couldn't authenticate two plants and further work is needed to develop ISSR DNA profiles for the authentication

Probing star formation in the dense environments of z ~ 1 lensing haloes aligned with dusty star-forming galaxies detected with the South Pole Telescope

We probe star formation in the environments of massive (∼10^(13) M_⊙) dark matter haloes at redshifts of z ∼ 1. This star formation is linked to a submillimetre clustering signal which we detect in maps of the Planck High Frequency Instrument that are stacked at the positions of a sample of high redshift (z > 2) strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) selected from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) 2500 deg^2 survey. The clustering signal has submillimetre colours which are consistent with the mean redshift of the foreground lensing haloes (z ∼ 1). We report a mean excess of star formation rate (SFR) compared to the field, of (2700 ± 700) M_⊙ yr^(−1) from all galaxies contributing to this clustering signal within a radius of 3.5 arcmin from the SPT DSFGs. The magnitude of the Planck excess is in broad agreement with predictions of a current model of the cosmic infrared background. The model predicts that 80 per cent of the excess emission measured by Planck originates from galaxies lying in the neighbouring haloes of the lensing halo. Using Herschel maps of the same fields, we find a clear excess, relative to the field, of individual sources which contribute to the Planck excess. The mean excess SFR compared to the field is measured to be (370 ± 40) M_⊙ yr^(−1) per resolved, clustered source. Our findings suggest that the environments around these massive z ∼ 1 lensing haloes host intense star formation out to about 2 Mpc. The flux enhancement due to clustering should also be considered when measuring flux densities of galaxies in Planck data

Isolation and Characterization of Plant growth-promoting Endophyticdiazotrophic Bacteria from Sri Lankan Rice Cultivars and Rapid Screening for their effect on Plant Growth Promotion

The present study was conducted to isolate and identify endophyticdiazotrophic bacteria in two Sri Lankan rice (Oryza Sativa L.) varieties; Suwandel and Bg 358 and to evaluate their potential to promote rice plant growth. A total of 15 putative endophyticdiazotrophic bacterial isolates were obtained from shoots and roots of Suwandel and Bg 358 rice varieties out of which 7 isolates were selected based on their ability to produce IAA and phosphate solubilization. According to the morphological characters and biochemical tests, these bacteria were identified belong to genera Bacillus (IN003, IN006, and IN007), Klebsiella (IN008 and IN018), Pantoea (IN009), and Enterobacter (IN015). All selected bacterial isolates produced IAA (7.1µmgl-1 to 30.9 µ mgl-1) in the tryptophan supplemented medium. Five out of seven bacterial isolates (IN006, IN007, IN008, IN015, and IN018) were able to solubilize inorganic phosphate on Pikovskaya\u27s agar medium. Rice seeds (Suwandel variety) treated with these endophyticdiazotrophic bacteria with plant growth-promoting ability showed significantly enhanced shoot length, root length, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight and root fresh weight compared to the uninoculated control. Plant inoculation experiment indicated that Enterobacter sp. (IN015) was most effective in rice plant growth promotion among seven bacterial isolates tested. These results strongly suggest that endophyticdiazotrophic bacteria characterized in this study could be successfully used to promote rice plant growth

Combining Fine- and Coarse-Grained Classifiers for Diabetic Retinopathy Detection

Visual artefacts of early diabetic retinopathy in retinal fundus images are usually small in size, inconspicuous, and scattered all over retina. Detecting diabetic retinopathy requires physicians to look at the whole image and fixate on some specific regions to locate potential biomarkers of the disease. Therefore, getting inspiration from ophthalmologist, we propose to combine coarse-grained classifiers that detect discriminating features from the whole images, with a recent breed of fine-grained classifiers that discover and pay particular attention to pathologically significant regions. To evaluate the performance of this proposed ensemble, we used publicly available EyePACS and Messidor datasets. Extensive experimentation for binary, ternary and quaternary classification shows that this ensemble largely outperforms individual image classifiers as well as most of the published works in most training setups for diabetic retinopathy detection. Furthermore, the performance of fine-grained classifiers is found notably superior than coarse-grained image classifiers encouraging the development of task-oriented fine-grained classifiers modelled after specialist ophthalmologists.Comment: Pages 12, Figures

Assessment innovation and student experience: a new assessment challenge and call for a multi-perspective approach to assessment research

The impact of innovative assessment on student experience in higher education is a neglected research topic. This represents an important gap in the literature given debate around the marketization of higher education, international focus on student satisfaction measurement tools and political calls to put students at the heart of higher education in the UK. This paper reports on qualitative findings from a research project examining the impact of assessment preferences and familiarity on student attainment and experience. It argues that innovation is defined by the student, shaped by diverse assessment experiences and preferences and therefore its impact is difficult to predict. It proposes that future innovations must explore assessment choice mechanisms which allow students to shape their own assessments. Cultural change and staff development will be required to achieve this. To be accepted, assessment for student experience must be viewed as a complementary layer within a complex multi perspective model of assessment which also embraces assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment for life long learning. Further research is required to build a meta theory of assessment to enhance the synergies between these alternative approaches and to minimise tensions between them

Planck's Dusty GEMS: Gravitationally lensed high-redshift galaxies discovered with the Planck survey

We present an analysis of 11 bright far-IR/submm sources discovered through a combination of the Planck survey and follow-up Herschel-SPIRE imaging. Each source has a redshift z=2.2-3.6 obtained through a blind redshift search with EMIR at the IRAM 30-m telescope. Interferometry obtained at IRAM and the SMA, and optical/near-infrared imaging obtained at the CFHT and the VLT reveal morphologies consistent with strongly gravitationally lensed sources. Additional photometry was obtained with JCMT/SCUBA-2 and IRAM/GISMO at 850 um and 2 mm, respectively. All objects are bright, isolated point sources in the 18 arcsec beam of SPIRE at 250 um, with spectral energy distributions peaking either near the 350 um or the 500 um bands of SPIRE, and with apparent far-infrared luminosities of up to 3x10^14 L_sun. Their morphologies and sizes, CO line widths and luminosities, dust temperatures, and far-infrared luminosities provide additional empirical evidence that these are strongly gravitationally lensed high-redshift galaxies. We discuss their dust masses and temperatures, and use additional WISE 22-um photometry and template fitting to rule out a significant contribution of AGN heating to the total infrared luminosity. Six sources are detected in FIRST at 1.4 GHz. Four have flux densities brighter than expected from the local far-infrared-radio correlation, but in the range previously found for high-z submm galaxies, one has a deficit of FIR emission, and 6 are consistent with the local correlation. The global dust-to-gas ratios and star-formation efficiencies of our sources are predominantly in the range expected from massive, metal-rich, intense, high-redshift starbursts. An extensive multi-wavelength follow-up programme is being carried out to further characterize these sources and the intense star-formation within them.Comment: A&A accepte

The Rest-Frame Submillimeter Spectrum of High-Redshift, Dusty, Star-Forming Galaxies

We present the average rest-frame spectrum of high-redshift dusty, star-forming galaxies from 250-770GHz. This spectrum was constructed by stacking ALMA 3mm spectra of 22 such sources discovered by the South Pole Telescope and spanning z=2.0-5.7. In addition to multiple bright spectral features of 12CO, [CI], and H2O, we also detect several faint transitions of 13CO, HCN, HNC, HCO+, and CN, and use the observed line strengths to characterize the typical properties of the interstellar medium of these high-redshift starburst galaxies. We find that the 13CO brightness in these objects is comparable to that of the only other z>2 star-forming galaxy in which 13CO has been observed. We show that the emission from the high-critical density molecules HCN, HNC, HCO+, and CN is consistent with a warm, dense medium with T_kin ~ 55K and n_H2 >~ 10^5.5 cm^-3. High molecular hydrogen densities are required to reproduce the observed line ratios, and we demonstrate that alternatives to purely collisional excitation are unlikely to be significant for the bulk of these systems. We quantify the average emission from several species with no individually detected transitions, and find emission from the hydride CH and the linear molecule CCH for the first time at high redshift, indicating that these molecules may be powerful probes of interstellar chemistry in high-redshift systems. These observations represent the first constraints on many molecular species with rest-frame transitions from 0.4-1.2mm in star-forming systems at high redshift, and will be invaluable in making effective use of ALMA in full science operations.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures (2 in appendices); accepted for publication in Ap

The redshift distribution of dusty star forming galaxies from the SPT survey

We use the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Cycle 1 to determine spectroscopic redshifts of high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) selected by their 1.4mm continuum emission in the South Pole Telescope (SPT) survey. We present ALMA 3mm spectral scans between 84-114GHz for 15 galaxies and targeted ALMA 1mm observations for an additional eight sources. Our observations yield 30 new line detections from CO, [CI] , [NII] , H_2O and NH_3. We further present APEX [CII] and CO mid-J observations for seven sources for which only a single line was detected in spectral-scan data from ALMA Cycle 0 or Cycle 1. We combine the new observations with previously published and new mm/submm line and photometric data of the SPT-selected DSFGs to study their redshift distribution. The combined data yield 39 spectroscopic redshifts from molecular lines, a success rate of >85%. Our sample represents the largest data set of its kind today and has the highest spectroscopic completeness among all redshift surveys of high-z DSFGs. The median of the redshift distribution is z=3.9+/-0.4, and the highest-redshift source in our sample is at z=5.8. We discuss how the selection of our sources affects the redshift distribution, focusing on source brightness, selection wavelength, and strong gravitational lensing. We correct for the effect of gravitational lensing and find the redshift distribution for 1.4mm-selected sources with a median redshift of z=3.1+/-0.3. Comparing to redshift distributions selected at shorter wavelengths from the literature, we show that selection wavelength affects the shape of the redshift distribution

SPT 0538-50: Physical conditions in the ISM of a strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxy at z=2.8

We present observations of SPT-S J053816-5030.8, a gravitationally-lensed dusty star forming galaxy (DSFG) at z = 2.7817, first discovered at millimeter wavelengths by the South Pole Telescope. SPT 0538-50 is typical of the brightest sources found by wide-field millimeter-wavelength surveys, being lensed by an intervening galaxy at moderate redshift (in this instance, at z = 0.441). We present a wide array of multi-wavelength spectroscopic and photometric data on SPT 0538-50, including data from ALMA, Herschel PACS and SPIRE, Hubble, Spitzer, VLT, ATCA, APEX, and the SMA. We use high resolution imaging from HST to de-blend SPT 0538-50, separating DSFG emission from that of the foreground lens. Combined with a source model derived from ALMA imaging (which suggests a magnification factor of 21 +/- 4), we derive the intrinsic properties of SPT 0538-50, including the stellar mass, far-IR luminosity, star formation rate, molecular gas mass, and - using molecular line fluxes - the excitation conditions within the ISM. The derived physical properties argue that we are witnessing compact, merger-driven star formation in SPT 0538-50, similar to local starburst galaxies, and unlike that seen in some other DSFGs at this epoch.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap