Effect of Cold Stress on Pyridostigmine Pretreated Rats Exposed to an Organophosphorous Compound

Context: Pyridostigmine bromide (PB) is a quaternary ammonium compound and has been approved as a pretreatment drug against toxic organophosphorous (OP) compounds. The stressful demands of modern military activity include a broad range of activities at extreme cold temperatures along with various physical activities. Objective: The effect of “sign free” dose of PB (0.075 mg/kg body weight) against a toxic OP compound diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) was reassessed in rats. Electrocardiographic (ECG) studies in hypothermic and pretreatment conditions were undertaken to assess the cardioprotective role of PB. Total Antioxidant Status (TAS) was quantified to assess the degree of oxidative stress imposed under such conditions. Possible protective role of pyridostigmine in rat lymphocytes was also determined.Materials& Methods: TAS was estimated spectrophotometrically and the expression of interferon-γ (IFNγ) was measured by Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting. ECG was monitored by standard protocol.Results: ECG recording showed that the PR and QT interval progressively increased along with widening of QRS complex. There was a progressive fall in heart rate as the body temperature decreased. TAS significantly decreased (p≤0.001) in hypothermic conditions and when pretreated with sign free dose of PB before cold induction (p≤0.001). Following immunostaining of lymphocytes by FITC conjugated mouse anti-rat IFNγ monoclonal antibody, 9.1% of lipopolysaccharide elicited parent cells showed positive IFNγ expression. Hypothermic stress inhibited IFNγ expression (3.6% of parent cells) which was recovered to 6.8% upon pre-treatment with sign-free dose of pyridostigmine. Conclusion: This study is indicative of a possible protective role of PB against hypothermic stress

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Impact of lifestyle pattern on energy consumption and carbon emissions - A view from India

Abstract: There is a clear link between the patterns of lifestyles that individuals or households lead and its impact on energy consumption and emissions. Historically it has been the developed countries that have accounted for high levels of energy consumption. However, with a growth in population and urbanization, per capita emissions from the more affluent segment of the household sector in some developing countries are gradually converging towards those recorded in developed countries. The present study by looking at the city of Kolkata aims to underline this link. By conducting 200 surveys across various income groups in the city and looking at the transport and residential sectors only, it is found that a middle income household in Kolkata has a carbon footprint almost equal to the world average, where as a high income household has a carbon footprint nearly half of that of an average US citizen and nearly equal to an average UK citizen. The paper also discusses the policy issues and implementation barriers for these two sectors in India and compare with the policy initiatives in Japan. Finally it is suggested that unless government sets an example and makes sustainable lifestyles possible through its strategies and operating practices, the country will not be able to overcome consumer inertia

Improved pearl millet genomes representing the global heterotic pool offer a framework for molecular breeding applications

Abstract High-quality reference genome assemblies, representative of global heterotic patterns, offer an ideal platform to accurately characterize and utilize genetic variation in the primary gene pool of hybrid crops. Here we report three platinum grade de-novo, near gap-free, chromosome-level reference genome assemblies from the active breeding germplasm in pearl millet with a high degree of contiguity, completeness, and accuracy. An improved Tift genome (Tift23D2B1-P1-P5) assembly has a contig N50 ~ 7,000-fold (126 Mb) compared to the previous version and better alignment in centromeric regions. Comparative genome analyses of these three lines clearly demonstrate a high level of collinearity and multiple structural variations, including inversions greater than 1 Mb. Differential genes in improved Tift genome are enriched for serine O-acetyltransferase and glycerol-3-phosphate metabolic process which play an important role in improving the nutritional quality of seed protein and disease resistance in plants, respectively. Multiple marker-trait associations are identified for a range of agronomic traits, including grain yield through genome-wide association study. Improved genome assemblies and marker resources developed in this study provide a comprehensive framework/platform for future applications such as marker-assisted selection of mono/oligogenic traits as well as whole-genome prediction and haplotype-based breeding of complex traits

Multiplicity dependence of light (anti-)nuclei production in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV

The measurement of the deuteron and anti-deuteron production in the rapidity range −1 < y < 0 as a function of transverse momentum and event multiplicity in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV is presented. (Anti-)deuterons are identified via their specific energy loss dE/dx and via their time-of- flight. Their production in p–Pb collisions is compared to pp and Pb–Pb collisions and is discussed within the context of thermal and coalescence models. The ratio of integrated yields of deuterons to protons (d/p) shows a significant increase as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity of the event starting from values similar to those observed in pp collisions at low multiplicities and approaching those observed in Pb–Pb collisions at high multiplicities. The mean transverse particle momenta are extracted from the deuteron spectra and the values are similar to those obtained for p and particles. Thus, deuteron spectra do not follow mass ordering. This behaviour is in contrast to the trend observed for non-composite particles in p–Pb collisions. In addition, the production of the rare 3He and 3He nuclei has been studied. The spectrum corresponding to all non-single diffractive p-Pb collisions is obtained in the rapidity window −1 < y < 0 and the pT-integrated yield dN/dy is extracted. It is found that the yields of protons, deuterons, and 3He, normalised by the spin degeneracy factor, follow an exponential decrease with mass number