Study the Effect of Plant Growth Regulators on Seed Germination of Various Tree Species of Rajasthan

This research paper delves into the influence of plant growth regulators (PGRs) on the germination percentage of four distinct plant species, specifically Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth., Holoptelea integrifolia (Roxb.) Planch., Acacia catechu (L.f.) Willd., and Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb. The study was conducted at Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur, during the summer of 2022. The study employed three PGRs: gibberellic acid (GA3), indole acetic acid (IAA), and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at two concentrations of 500 ppm and 1000 ppm. The primary objectives of this study were to evaluate the germination percentage of the four plant species and to ascertain the optimal PGR treatment for seed germination. The results of this research could potentially aid in the development of effective strategies to enhance seed germination and overall plant growth. The study revealed that the impact of PGRs on germination percentage was dependent on the plant species and the concentration of the PGR used. The findings indicated that the use of PGRs at appropriate concentrations could increase the germination percentage of seeds. Of the three PGRs used in the study, GA3 was found to be the most effective at enhancing seed germination for all four plant species, followed by IAA and IBA. Overall, this research has demonstrated that the use of PGRs can significantly improve seed germination percentage and can provide valuable insights into the optimal concentration of PGRs required for the best possible results. The study results could potentially assist in the development of PGR-based strategies to enhance plant growth and productivity, which could have important implications for agricultural and environmental sustainability

Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and obesity in the resident adults of Raipur District (Chhattisgarh state: India)

Obesity is a medical condition characterized by accumulation of excess body fat leading to negative health consequences and reduced life expectancy. The latter could be attributed to various diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus type 2, obstructive sleep apnea, certain types of cancer and osteoarthritis. The present investigation was undertaken to evaluate obesity, appraised by BMI, in the Raipur District of Chhattisgarh State, India. A multiphase stratified random sampling method was performed on 688 adults of both sexes, with mean age 34yrs ± 16, from June to September 2011. Anthropometric measurements were recorded using standard instruments (weight scale and stadiometer). BMI was calculated using the statistical software SPSS version 20.0. The results divulged 19.91% of the adults to be overweight and 57% of them as obese. Amongst the male subjects, 23.55% and 7.97 %; and in case of females, 17.47% and 8.90 % were marked as overweight and obese respectively. As evident from the results, 8.5% were obese and another 20% are being overweight which could lead to future obesity, which is significantly associated with increased likelihoods of having depressive symptoms and an array of other cardiac diseases. Thus, lifestyle and mental health status could well be monitored and evaluated in the obese and overweight subjects in order to prevent the several disorders associated with obesity

Plant extracts with antisickling propensities: a feasible succour towards sickle cell disease management- a mini review

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is known to be one of the diseases wrecking most parts of the globe without any discrimination of ethnic or racial standards. It is characterized by a variety of symptoms including, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, abdominal pains, aches and pains in the muscle. The crisis stage is characterized by severe pain in the head and whole body. In the stage of crises if the percentage of sickled erythrocytes can be some how lowered we can expect a great relief to the patient. This could also serve a major step to-words management of the SCD. Phytochemicals in the plant extracts have the therapeutic activity and is used in traditional practice by the traditional healers. Many plant extracts have been used to bring about reversal of the sickled erythrocytes in vitro.  The present communication reviews the available literature reporting anti-sickling properties of a number of plants extracts on human blood samples

Symbiotic Dynamics in Living Liquid Crystals

An amalgamate of nematic liquid crystals and active matter, referred to as living liquid crystals, is a promising self-healing material with futuristic applications for targeted delivery of information and micro-cargo. We provide a phenomenological model to study the symbiotic pattern dynamics in this contemporary system using the Toner-Tu model for active matter (AM), the Landau-de Gennes free energy for liquid crystals (LCs), and an experimentally motivated coupling term that favours co-alignment of the active and nematic components. Our extensive theoretical studies unfold two novel steady states, chimeras and solitons, with sharp regions of distinct orientational order that sweep through the coupled system in synchrony. The induced dynamics in the passive nematic is unprecedented. We show that the symbiotic dynamics of the AM and LC components can be exploited to induce and manipulate order in an otherwise disordered system

Linking Supervisor and Co-workers Support to Organizational Commitment: Mediating Effect of Work-Family Conflict

The present study investigates the effect of supervisor support and co-worker support on employees' organizational commitment by incorporating the role of work-family conflict as a mediator. Primary data were collected from 353 employees working in the service sector of India. Partial least square structural equational modelling in Smart PLS software was used for analysis. Results confirm that supervisor support significantly influence the organizational commitment of the employees. Work-family conflict act as a mediator between the relationship of supervisor support and organizational commitment. There is no significant effect of co-worker support on organizational commitment. Work-family conflict does not mediate between the relationship of co-worker support and organizational commitment. This study explains the importance of supportiveness from the supervisor in an industrializing country like India. It also provides an insight to the management in realizing the need to provide sensitivity training to the supervisors and the fact that special attention should be given while hiring the supervisors. This research will be useful to the management, researchers, policymakers, and society at large

Effect of high day and night temperature regimes on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) genotypes

Five tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genotypes, including heat tolerant (Pusa Sadabahar, Booster, Pusa Sheetal), one F1 combination (Pusa Sheetal × Pusa Sadabahar ) and one susceptible genotype (Pusa Rohini) were grown under phytotron under four temperature regimes, i.e. 20/24, 22/26, 24/32, 27/37°C night (11 hours)/day (13 hours) temperature, respectively. Pusa Sadabahar and Booster recorded high value of relative water content (RWC) and low value of membrane injury index (MII) both at normal and high temperature conditions. High value of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b ratio was recorded in Pusa Sadabahar and Pusa Sheetal×Pusa Sadabahar under all the temperature regimes showed their tolerance to high temperature. Normal (more than 80 percent) flowering and fruiting was recorded in all the genotypes at 20/24°C & 22/26°C. However at 24/32°C Pusa Sadabahar recorded 65 per cent fruit set and other genotypes 25 to 49 percent fruit setting only. None of the genotypes could record fruit set at 27/37°C, except Pusa Sadabahar which could set few small fruits (19%). Pollen germination was maximum (ranging from 21.8 - 62.9%) in Pusa Sadabahar under all temperature regimes. The susceptible genotype, Pusa Rohini recorded exerted stigma in 100% flowers at 27/37°C temperature whereas it was 75% in tolerant genotype Pusa Sadabahar. Night/day temperature 22/26°C was optimum for fruit set, pollen viability and normal stigma development in tomato. High night temperature (³ 26°C ± 2°C) at flowering was the major factor in reducing fruit set in tomato than the day temperature. The study showed that day temperature of ³ 35°C and night temperature of ³ 26oC may be used for screening tomato against high temperature tolerance

Defective Molecular Timer in the Absence of Nucleotides Leads to Inefficient Caspase Activation

In the intrinsic death pathway, cytochrome C (CC) released from mitochondria to the cytosol triggers Apaf-1 apoptosome formation and subsequent caspase activation. This process can be recapitulated using recombinant Apaf-1 and CC in the presence of nucleotides ATP or dATP [(d)ATP] or using fresh cytosol and CC without the need of exogenous nucleotides. Surprisingly, we found that stored cytosols failed to support CC-initiated caspase activation. Storage of cytosols at different temperatures led to the loss of all (deoxy)nucleotides including (d)ATP. Addition of (d)ATP to such stored cytosols partially restored CC-initiated caspase activation. Nevertheless, CC could not induce complete caspase-9/3 activation in stored cytosols, even with the addition of (d)ATP, despite robust Apaf-1 oligomerization. The Apaf-1 apoptosome, which functions as a proteolytic-based molecular timer appeared to be defective as auto-processing of recruited procaspase-9 was inhibited. Far Western analysis revealed that procaspase-9 directly interacted with Apaf-1 and this interaction was reduced in the presence of physiological levels of ATP. Co-incubation of recombinant Apaf-1 and procaspase-9 prior to CC and ATP addition inhibited CC-induced caspase activity. These findings suggest that in the absence of nucleotide such as ATP, direct association of procaspase-9 with Apaf-1 leads to defective molecular timer, and thus, inhibits apoptosome-mediated caspase activation. Altogether, our results provide novel insight on nucleotide regulation of apoptosome

Isolation and Screening of Polyhydroxyalkanoates Producing Bacteria from Pulp, Paper, and Cardboard Industry Wastes

Background. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are storage materials that accumulate by various bacteria as energy and carbon reserve materials. They are biodegradable, environmentally friendly, and also biocompatible bioplastics. Unlike petrochemical-based plastics that take several decades to fully degrade, PHAs can be completely degraded within a year by variety of microorganisms into CO2 and water. In the present study, we aim to utilize pulp, paper, and cardboard industry sludge and waste water for the isolation and screening of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) accumulating bacteria and production of cost-effective PHB using cardboard industry waste water. Results. A total of 42 isolates showed black-blue coloration when stained with Sudan black B, a preliminary screening agent for lipophilic compounds, and a total of 15 isolates showed positive result with Nile blue A staining, a more specific dye for PHA granules. The isolates NAP11 and NAC1 showed maximum PHA production 79.27% and 77.63% with polymer concentration of 5.236 g/L and 4.042 g/L with cardboard industry waste water. Both of the selected isolates, NAP11 and NAC1, were classified up to genus level by studying their morphological and biochemical characteristics and were found to be Enterococcus sp., Brevundimonas sp. and, respectively. Conclusion. The isolates Enterococcus sp. NAP11 and Brevundimonas sp. NAC1 can be considered as good candidates for industrial production of PHB from cardboard industry waste water. We are reporting for the first time the use of cardboard industry waste water as a cultivation medium for the PHB production

To Study of Artemisia nilagirica Leaves for their Antithyroid, Oxidative and Antihyperglycemic Properties

The tiny, fragrant shrub Artemisia nilagirica (Clarke) is a member of the Asteraceae family. This plant's leaves and flowering top have been used in traditional medicine as an antimalarial, nerve tonic, and anticancer drug, and there is evidence of anti-leishmanial efficacy. Material and Methods: The plant specimen was obtained from the Ooty district in Tamil Nadu, India, during the month of December. It was subsequently authenticated by NMKRV College for Women, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The plant specimens were stored in the herbarium of the NMKRV College for Women, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Results: The morphological, microscopic, organoleptic, and other WHO-recommended procedures for standardization were investigated in a powdered sample of Artemisia nilagirica (Clarke) leaf. Phytochemical investigation revealed the existence of numerous elements such as alkaloids, amino acids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, glycosides, terpenoids, steroids, saponins, essential oils, tannins and phenol in diverse extracts. Conclusion: Pharmacognostic and phytochemical analysis of Artemisia nilagirica (Clarke) leaves would be useful for authenticating raw material or crude medication

Extended-spectrum β-lactamase and AmpC β-lactamase Production among Gram-negative Bacilli Isolates Obtained from Urinary Tract Infections and Wound Infections

Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and AmpC β-lactamases continue to be a major problem in healthcare settings. Due to the scarcity of information regarding the antibiotic susceptibility patterns particularly from urinary tract infection (UTI) and wound infections, the current study was carried out to assist the clinicians to prescribe appropriate antibiotics against Gram-negative clinical isolates. In the current study, urine (n = 620) and pus (n = 228) samples were collected from different sites (at various clinical departments) and subjected to direct microscopic examination, culture and antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST). In the AST testings, the isolates that exhibited reduced zone of inhibition to one or more of the antibiotics such as cefotaxime (≤27 mm), ceftriaxone (≤25 mm), ceftazidime (≤22 mm), cefpodoxime (≤17 mm) and aztreonam (≤27 mm) were considered as potential ESBL producers and the ESBL production was confirmed using phenotypic screening test (double-disk synergy test) and phenotypic confirmatory test (combined-disk test). However, isolates showing resistance or decreased sensitivity to cefoxitin, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, cefpodoxime or aztreonam and sensitive to cefepime were considered as a screen positive AmpC producer and subjected to AmpC disk tests. The current study concluded that 72.41% and 21.76% of ESBL and AmpC producers were detected, respectively in our hospital. It was also observed that the double-disk synergy and combined-disk tests were equally effective for ESBL detection. Further, AmpC disk test is simple, easy to perform and interpret, requiring less expertise for the rapid detection of AmpC isolates