Activity of Marphysa gravelyi Southern (Polychaeta) under heterosmotic conditions

Marphysa gravely; Southern is a common polychaete which occurs in the muddy substratum of the brackish-water regions of Madras, where salinities fluctuate over a wide range (Panikkar and Aiyar, 1937). In the laboratory under experimental conditions the worm is able to tolerate dilutions of sea-water ranging from 20-70% without any ill effect

A Study of Comparison of Left Ventricular Mass in Hypertensive Patients With Diabetes Mellitus and Without Diabetes Mellitus

BACKROUND AND OBJECTIVES : Hypertension is a major risk factor for stroke, cardiovascular diseases and aortic dissection and hypertension is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Hypertension causes 7.1 million premature deaths and the disease burden is 4.5% all over the world. Hypertension is a major public health problem globally. The prevalence of diabetes has raised to 285 million in 2012 when compared to 30 million cases in 1985. The principal morbidity and driver of mortality in patients with diabetes are cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Both hypertension and diabetes increases cardiovascular morbidity and mortality by increasing left ventricular mass. Even though the ECG can identify the findings suggestive of left ventricular hypertrophy, the sensitivity is very less. So echocardiography is preferred for assessment of left ventricular hypertrophy. MATERIALS AND METHODS : This was a prospective cross sectional study conducted in patients attending the hypertension OP of Govt. Kilpauk Medical College Hospital with hypertension and diabetes or hypertension alone of more than 5 years duration without any cardiac disease and healthy individuals of more than 35yrs of age are taken as controls. Echocardiography was done for both study and control groups and left ventricular mass was calculated by using Penn formula and LV mass was compared between the three groups (HT, HT and DM, controls). RESULTS : There is significant statistical correlation between age group and left ventricular mass in hypertension with diabetes group (p =0.039). There is significant statistical correlation between females (p=0.042) with diabetes and hypertension and severity of abnormal left ventricular mass than males (p=0.286). The mean left ventricular mass increases in both males (211.25gm-HT to 224.24gm-HT+DM) and females (169.65gm-HT to 206.06gm-HT+DM) in hypertension and diabetes group and it was statistically significant in females (p=0.015) but not in males (p=0.546). CONCLUSION : The study shows that there is increased left ventricular mass in females with hypertension and diabetes mellitus when compared to females with hypertension alone but not in males. But the mean left ventricular mass was increased in both males and females of diabetes and hypertension group when compared to hypertension only group. Advancing age is also associated with increased left ventricular mass in cases of both hypertension and diabetes group. Increased left ventricular mass is an important cause for increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality hence, the females with diabetes and hypertension should be managed aggressively for reduction of left ventricular mass

Structural, Optical and Magnetic Properties of (In0.90Sn0.05Cu0.05)(2)O-3 Nanoparticles

This study examined structural, optical and magnetic properties of ITO (In0.95Sn0.05)(2)O-3 and Cu doped ITO (In0.90Sn0.05Cu0.05)(2)O-3 nanoparticles synthesized by solid state reaction method. The synthesized nanoparticles were subjected to structural, optical and magnetic studies. The structural properties of the nanoparticles were carried out using XRD, Raman, FT-IR characterization techniques. Optical properties of the samples were studies using UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. The magnetic measurements were carried out using vibrating sample magnetometer. The ITO (In0.95Sn0.05)(2)O-3 nanoparticles exhibited room temperature ferromagnetism with clear hysteresis loop. The strength of magnetization decreased in Cu doped ITO (In0.95Sn0.05)(2)O-3. The ITO nanoparticles were also exhibited ferromagnetism at 100 K with a magnetic moment of 0.02 emu/g

An initial event in insect innate immune response: structural and biological studies of interactions between β-1,3-glucan and the N-terminal domain of β-1,3-glucan recognition protein

In response to invading microorganisms, insect β-1,3-glucan recognition protein (βGRP), a soluble receptor in the hemolymph, binds to the surfaces of bacteria and fungi and activates serine protease cascades that promote destruction of pathogens by means of melanization or expression of antimicrobial peptides. Here we report on the NMR solution structure of the N-terminal domain of βGRP (N-βGRP) from Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella), which is sufficient to activate the prophenoloxidase (proPO) pathway resulting in melanin formation. NMR and isothermal calorimetric titrations of N-βGRP with laminarihexaose, a glucose hexamer containing β-1,3 links, suggest a weak binding of the ligand. However, addition of laminarin, a glucose polysaccharide (~ 6 kDa) containing β-1,3 and β-1,6 links that activates the proPO pathway, to N-βGRP results in the loss of NMR cross-peaks from the backbone 15N-1H groups of the protein, suggesting the formation of a large complex. Analytical ultra centrifugation (AUC) studies of formation of N-βGRP:laminarin complex show that ligand-binding induces sel-fassociation of the protein:carbohydrate complex into a macro structure, likely containing six protein and three laminarin molecules (~ 102 kDa). The macro complex is quite stable, as it does not undergo dissociation upon dilution to sub-micromolar concentrations. The structural model thus derived from the present studies for N-βGRP:laminarin complex in solution differs from the one in which a single N-βGRP molecule has been proposed to bind to a triple helical form of laminarin on the basis of an X-ray crystallographic structure of N-βGRP:laminarihexaose complex [Kanagawa, M., Satoh, T., Ikeda, A., Adachi, Y., Ohno, N., and Yamaguchi, Y. (2011) J. Biol. Chem. 286, 29158-29165]. AUC studies and phenoloxidase activation measurements carried out with the designed mutants of N-βGRP indicate that electrostatic interactions involving Asp45, Arg54, and Asp68 between the ligand-bound protein molecules contribute in part to the stability of N-βGRP:laminarin macro complex and that a decreased stability is accompanied by a reduced activation of the proPO pathway. Increased β-1,6 branching in laminarin also results in destabilization of the macro complex. These novel findings suggest that ligand-induced self-association of βGRP:β-1,3-glucan complex may form a platform on a microbial surface for recruitment of downstream proteases, as a means of amplification of the initial signal of pathogen recognition for the activation of the proPO pathway

Industrial fisheries off Madras coast based on exploratory surveys during 1973-1980

At the Madras Research Centre of CMFRI, there existed data for areas (Fig. 1) south of 15°40'N Upto the latitude zone of I0°40'N off Velanganni in depths ranging from 10 to 130 m for a eight year period From 1973 to 1980. The results of analysis of these data are presented here with a view to providing information on and extending our knowledge about the spatial and seasonal distribution of various indusirially important fisheries as also their resource potential along the north Tamil Nadu-South Andhra Coast

Fishery resources of the Exclusive Economic Zone of the northwest coast of India

For well over two decades now, trawling operations, both exploratory and commercial, have been going on along the north-western region, off the Goa, Maha rashtra and Gujarat coasts (15°-24°N). A historical resimie of trawling in India has been given by Jayaraman et al. (1959) in their account of the demersal fishery resources of the shelf waters of this area, for the period 1950 to 1955. Similar accoimts on the distribution patterns of major exploited fisheries for 1961-1967 and 1968-1970, have been given by Rao (1969) and Rao et al. (1966, 1972) and Nair (1974). Apart from the above accoimts on the fisheries in general, detailed studies on the pattern of distribution and abundance of individual species have been reported by Rao (1965— Pseudosciaena' diacanthus), Kagwade (1973—Polynemus heptadactylus), Deshmukh (1973—Pomadasys hasta), Kaikini (1974—Lactarius lactarius) and Kagwade {1966—prawns), as also (Prabhu and Dhawan, 1974)— regional fisheries off Goa. The results of these studies, based on bottom-trawling operations mostly in regions less than 80 metres in depth, have given us a fair knowledge of the demersal resources potential of this region

Isogeometric approximation of cardiac electrophysiology models on surfaces: An accuracy study with application to the human left atrium

We consider Isogeometric Analysis in the framework of the Galerkin method for the spatial approximation of cardiac electrophysiology models defined on NURBS surfaces; specifically, we perform a numerical comparison between basis functions of degree p ≥ 1 and globally C k -continuous, with k = 0 or p − 1, to find the most accurate approximation of a propagating front with the minimal number of degrees of freedom. We show that B-spline basis functions of degree p ≥ 1, which are C p−1 -continuous capture accurately the front velocity of the transmembrane potential even with moderately refined meshes; similarly, we show that, for accurate tracking of curved fronts, high-order continuous B-spline basis functions should be used. Finally, we apply Isogeometric Analysis to an idealized human left atrial geometry described by NURBS with physiologically sound fiber directions and anisotropic conductivity tensor to demonstrate that the numerical scheme retains its favorable approximation properties also in a more realistic setting

Measurement of atmospheric neutrino mixing with improved IceCube DeepCore calibration and data processing

We describe a new data sample of IceCube DeepCore and report on the latest measurement of atmospheric neutrino oscillations obtained with data recorded between 2011–2019. The sample includes significant improvements in data calibration, detector simulation, and data processing, and the analysis benefits from a sophisticated treatment of systematic uncertainties, with significantly greater level of detail since our last study. By measuring the relative fluxes of neutrino flavors as a function of their reconstructed energies and arrival directions we constrain the atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters to be sin2θ23=0.51±0.05 and Δm232=2.41±0.07×10−3  eV2, assuming a normal mass ordering. The errors include both statistical and systematic uncertainties. The resulting 40% reduction in the error of both parameters with respect to our previous result makes this the most precise measurement of oscillation parameters using atmospheric neutrinos. Our results are also compatible and complementary to those obtained using neutrino beams from accelerators, which are obtained at lower neutrino energies and are subject to different sources of uncertainties