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Background: Diabetes is a chronic medical condition with severe complications, mainly caused by unhealthy lifestyles in genetically susceptible individuals. There has been a growing interest in the role of mobile health technologies in achieving better self-efficacy in managing diabetes. This study attempts to assess the impact of a web-based model on improving the diabetes status among Type 2 diabetic patients attending a tertiary care hospital in southern India. Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted among patients with type 2 diabetes attending the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in Mysuru, southern India, for 6 months. Diabetes Care (https://www.diabetes-care.co.in/), which is an online website that can be used as a risk prediction tool for uncontrolled diabetes and recommends lifestyle changes, was used by 456 diabetes patients for 6 months. We assessed the change in glycosylated haemoglobin levels at the beginning and after 6 months of using the software. Results: The mean HbA1c value at the start of the study was 8.039% ± 1.981. The HbA1c value assessed after 6 months post-intervention showed an improvement of 7.794% ± 1.853 with a mean difference of 0.245. A paired T-test showed a statistically significant association with a P value of 0.049. Conclusions: Evidence from this study suggests that intervention using a web-based model focusing on risk prediction and educational intervention showed an improvement in the diabetic status of the patients with T2DM.

Soilless agriculture is one of the advanced techniques to cultivate plants without soil, with minimal water and nutrients, and helps in vertical growth of agricultural technology. It is an eco-friendly approach widely used for commercial cultivation of quality vegetables. An experiment was conducted at University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka during 2017–19 to evaluate the potentiality and suitability of the hydroponics (M2) and aeroponics (M3) methods over conventional method (M1) for hybrid seed production of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). The experiment had 12 treatments comprising 3 methods of production, 2 parental lines (TAG 1F and TAG 2F) and 2 seed treatments (S1: Control and S2: thiram @2g/kg + chlorpyrifos @3g/kg). Hoagland nutrient solution with pH 5.5–6.5 was used for soilless systems. The results revealed that, among the parental lines, TAG 1F performed better under all the methods of hybrid seed production. Seed treatment increased the per cent survival rate to the tune of 3.26%. Aeroponics and hydroponics performed better than conventional method. Aeroponics showed significantly higher plant height (140.94 cm), fruit weight (124.54 g), total biomass (106.44 g) and test weight (0.39 g) while, hydroponics showed significantly higher number of fruit/plant (45.84) and SVI (2821). It is inferred that soilless agriculture could be a promising tool for quality and year-round healthy hybrid tomato seed production under protected cultivation.

Background: ACE2 is a receptor for Corona virus. COVID-19 (coronavirus) is a deadly virus which can enter the human body through 'angiotensin-converting enzyme 2' human cells, hardly damages the respiratory system. On severe infection on these cells make the lungs weaker, results difficulty in breathing and lead to death. We took this major issue as a challenge and planned to synthesize chemical molecules (compounds), particularly pyrazole derivatives, and found good results. We prepared a convenient laboratory and planned according to our work. Aims and Objectives: Cinnamaldehydes prepared by Claisen condensation were made to react with hydrazine hydrate and phenylhydrazine derivatives to afford pyrazoles. Nano-TiO2 was influenced the reactions without using solvents. Green chemistry was employed by microwave irradiation. Comparitive studies with conventional method were done. The synthesised compounds were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Proton NMR (1H NMR) and elemental analysis. Synthesised compounds were screened against COVID-19 as antiviral agents. Materials and Methods: We reported microwave method for the green synthesis of chemical molecules so that the reactions maintained under microwave irradiation. All the reactions were carried in microwave oven. In-vitro studies by MTT-assay method of synthesized chemical molecules exhibited good potency in inhibiting ACE2 infected human cells. Results: Microwave assisted reactions were completed in very short time compared to Conventional method. More compounds exhibited good inhibitory potency having cytotoxicity concentration (CC50) and effective concentration (EC50) values against COVID-19. Inhibition of ACE2 human cells infected from COVID-19 was determined by MTT method. Some compounds proved as good potent molecules by acting ACE2 human cells receptors against COVID-19. Conclusion: We afforded the Pyrazole molecules by green synthesis proved that these can act as effective drugs for ACE2 infected cells against Covid-19. Microwave method is proved to be an efficient and convenient one for the green synthesis.

Field experiment was conducted for three consecutive years (2008-09 to 2010-11) to study the effect of seed priming with IBA, GA3, kinetin and salicylic acid separately on germination, growth and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under salt-affected soils at Directorate of Seed Research, Mau. Seeds primed @100 ppm with IBA, GA3, kinetin and salicylic acid separately for 12 hr significantly enhanced the seed germination (18-26%), seedling dry weight (25-72%), vigour index (32-116%), plant height (4-8.4%), number of tillers (2-14.6%), total dry matter (3-11%), number of grains (13-18%) and finally test weight (5.3-6.1%) and grain yield (2-14%) over unprimed control in variety HUW 234. Among the treatments, kinetin showed maximum values as well as percent improvement over control in almost all the characters studied followed by GA3, IBA and salicylic acid. Improvement observed through seed priming indirectly reflects role of growth regulators in amelioration of salt stress.

Of the several factors vital for enhancing production and productivity of the crops, seed is a critical input for long- term sustained growth of agriculture. A robust seed system is the first and foremost step towards food security of the country and acts as driver of growth in agriculture. From a predominantly public sector in the 1960’s, the Indian seed sector has evolved gradually into a multi-faceted industry with involvement of large number of private firms and increasing emphasis on research and development activities. The present paper reviews the evolution of seed sector in India, quality assurance regulations, international seed testing and certification, development of varieties and their induction in the seed chain, present status of breeder, foundation and quality/certified seed production. The paper also discusses the varietal scenario in the seed chain during 2014-15, demand and availability of seed and contributions of public and private seed sector. On quality seed front, production of 3.52 MT (2014-15), more than requirement was made possible due to synergistic efforts of public and private sectors in Indian seed domain. Analysis of Indian seed production scenario revealed that seed production has shown compound growth rate of 16-17 %, which is an encouraging positive sign and Indian seed industry is vibrant and strong enough to make its presence felt in global seed domain and India is poised for up-scaling its current position, 6th with US $ 2 billion, in international seed market valued at US $ 45 billion. Indian seed sector managed this growth due to proactive policy support and seed markets such as Bt cotton, hybrids of vegetables, rice and maize especially, single cross hybrids. An attempt has also been made in the present study to analyze the impact of quality seed on Indian agriculture, potential for seed export, way forward and strategies for meeting the emerging challenges in the seed sector for enhancing seed replacement rate, varietal replacement rate and making quality seed available to the farmers at affordable prices for up-scaling and sustaining high yield in field crops.

In a study set of forty seven genotypes of common bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend Fiori & Paol) were evaluated over four years during 2007-08 to 2010-11 to assess the stability of these genotypes for yield and its contributing traits over years and environments. Analysis of variance of stability with respect to 12 traits revealed highly significant variance due to environment for all traits which indicated differential effect of different seasons. The variance for genotypic effect was highly significant for all traits indicating thereby differential response of all the genotypes. Genotype×environment (linear) interaction was also significant for flag leaf length, flag leaf width, peduncle length, grains per spike and 1000-grain weight indicating substantial amount of predictable G×E interaction. Environmental indices indicated that performance of genotypes over four environments varied apparently and environment E2 showed highest favourable impact on grain yield. Varieties K 9107, UP 2382 and PBW 443 were found to be stable across the environments for grain yield and NW 1076 was the highest yielding stable variety in which superior yield was resulted from high mean values of six contributing traits, while variety LOK 1 was the only variety showed stable performance for all 12 traits. The stability of different yield contributing traits varied in compensating manner in different genotypes imparted grain yield stability. The varieties HD 2824, UP 2382, NW 1076, DBW 16, DBW 39, GW 173, HUW 234, NIAW 917, LOK 1, HD 2851 and PBW 154 have shown higher mean values, desirable regression coefficient and non-significant deviation from the regression coefficient for yield and its contributing traits. Based on stability parameters these varieties can be considered as stable performers and may be utilized for hybridization programmes to improve wheat yields.

Forty seven released varieties of common bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were evaluated during rabi 2007-08 to 2010-11 for four years under irrigated conditions at Directorate of Seed Research, Mau. Analysis of variance on 12 quantitative characters was carried out and pooled analysis was conducted over the seasons. The mean, range, phenotypic, genotypic and environmental variance, genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation, heritability in broad sense and genetic advance were calculated. Path coefficient analysis was carried out using correlation coefficients to establish the inter-relationship and direct and indirect contributions of component traits towards grain yield. Analysis of variance revealed the considerable amount of genetic variability in genotypes for all the traits. High genetic advance (GA) coupled with moderate to high heritability for grains/ spike and 1000-seed weight indicated the effectiveness of selection for these traits. Number of grains/spikelet, grain yield/spike and effective tillers/m2 were positively associated with grain yield. Similarly, effective tillers/m2, number of grains/spike and grain yield/spike had higher phenotypic and genotypic direct effects on grain yield/m2, revealing that indirect selection for these traits would be effective in improving the grain yield. The higher direct and indirect contribution of grains/spike, tillers/m2, 1000-seed weight, spikelets/spike and grains/spikelet towards total grain yield would be of great use for indirect selection for yield improvement.

Background: Diabetes is a chronic medical condition with severe complications, mainly caused by unhealthy lifestyles in genetically susceptible individuals. There has been a growing interest in the role of mobile health technologies in achieving better self-efficacy in managing diabetes. This study attempts to assess the impact of a web-based model on improving the diabetes status among Type 2 diabetic patients attending a tertiary care hospital in southern India. Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted among patients with type 2 diabetes attending the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in Mysuru, southern India, for 6 months. Diabetes Care (https://www.diabetescare. co.in/), which is an online website that can be used as a risk prediction tool for uncontrolled diabetes and recommends lifestyle changes, was used by 456 diabetes patients for 6 months. We assessed the change in glycosylated haemoglobin levels at the beginning and after 6 months of using the software. Results: The mean HbA1c value at the start of the study was 8.039% ± 1.981. The HbA1c value assessed after 6 months post-intervention showed an improvement of 7.794% ± 1.853 with a mean difference of 0.245. A paired T-test showed a statistically significant association with a P value of 0.049. Conclusions: Evidence from this study suggests that intervention using a webbased model focusing on risk prediction and educational intervention showed an improvement in the diabetic status of the patients with T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few decades, sophisticated machining industries are rapidly improved to attain the required shape of part within specific time and also not affecting/disturbing material properties. Accuracy of machined components is very important in every industry and geometrical accuracy of hole is vital in case of subassemblies of components. In this perspective, the researchers/experts updated their machinery time to time. In machining process, the mainly affected parameters are environment and time of machining zone, so in this case to overcome these problems encountered it is necessary to consider design of experiments which is having a great use in machining zone. This paper attempts new approach to produce hole within measurements on glass material using modified air abrasive jet machining (MAAJM) setup. Experiments were conducted on nickel material to evaluate the taper in machining. This (MAAJM) experimental work compared to stationary work table process is proven more accurate.

The computerized examination of brain tumors is critical in the early and correct diagnosis of neurological illnesses. This study proposes a new approach that combines image processing techniques and machine learning algorithms for the automatic detection and categorization of brain tumors in medical pictures. The proposed system uses advanced image processing algorithms to enhance and preprocess magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brain. Preprocessing processes include noise reduction, contrast enhancement, and segmentation to extract the regions of interest. Following that, a feature extraction procedure is used to extract significant features from the preprocessed pictures, collecting key properties indicative of tumor existence and type. During the machine learning phase, a robust classification model is trained on a broad collection of annotated brain images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) incessantly produced as by-products of metabolism play significant roles in seed physiology. ROS (hydroxyl, superoxide radical and hydrogen peroxide) and RNS (nitric oxide, nitric dioxide, nitrous acid and dinitrogen tetroxide) content changes in all phases of seed life cycle that influence seed germination, dormancy and longevity. Recent studies illustrate that ROS and RNS are performing oxidative and nitrosative signaling to induce seed germination within oxidative window level. Besides, ROS/RNS-mediated post-translational modifications (PTM) like carbonylation, S-nitrosylation and nitration are gaining interest in promoting seed germination. Understanding the signalling pathways, cross-talk with plant hormones and their role in promoting seed germination and dormancy alleviation could pave way for hormone engineering that help in crop productivity, particularly under climatic changing conditions. In addition, role of antioxidants and glutathione thiols in protecting from oxidative damage indicate that these compounds can be used for seed viability/quality markers that aid in monitoring of crop establishment. In this review, sources of ROS and RNS, their cross-talk with plant hormones (prospects for hormone engineering), signalling functions pertaining to seed germination, dormancy and deterioration have been illustrated. In addition, seed quality markers under climatic changing conditions for effective monitoring of crop stand establishment and diagnostics development have been elucidated.

Stirling pulse tube cryocoolers (PTC) are widely used in aerospace applications for the cooling of infrared sensors and for filtering background thermal noise in the astro-imaging devices, etc. Present investigation aims to use numerical methods to demonstrate the nonlinear fluid flow, heat transfer, and vortex generation phenomena in a two-stage coaxial type inertance pulse tube cryocooler. The numerical simulation is conducted using commercially available Fluent® code for both single-stage and multi-stage configurations to show nonlinear processes with varying heat load conditions. It has been noticed that the width of the vortex produced inside the pulse tube grows with an increase in heat load capacity. This undesirable flow conditions yields an adverse effect in the cooling behavior and reduces overall performance of cryocooler with higher heat load. Additionally, streamlines, stream function, pressure and temperature variation plots are given for both stages with different heat load capacity to substantiate our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drastic variation in the thermodynamic properties of supercritical fluids near the pseudo critical point hinders the use of commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. However, with the increase in computational abilities, along with the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), turbulence heat transfer characteristics of supercritical fluids can be very accurately predicted. In the present work, heat transfer characteristics for a vertically downward flow of carbon dioxide in a pipe are studied for a wide range of heat flux and mass flux values. Firstly, six different turbulent models available in the commercial CFD software - Ansys Fluent are validated against the experimental results. The k-? Standard model with enhanced wall treatment is found to be the best-suited turbulence model. When experimental results were validated in CFD, an average error of 1% in the bulk fluid temperature and 2% in the wall temperature were recorded. Further, K-? Standard Turbulence Model is used in CFD for parametric analysis to generate the data for ANN studies. Mass flux range of 238 to 1038 kg/m2s, and heat flux range of 26 kW/m2 to 250 kW/m2 are used to generate 81,432 data samples. These samples were fed into the ANN program to develop an equation that can predict the heat transfer coefficient. It was found that ANN can predict the heat transfer coefficient for the considered range of values within the absolute average relative deviation of 2.183 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although acid-base titrations can be done using numerous indicators which are either synthetic or semi-synthetic, the investigation was started for natural compounds as the former ones result in polluting the habitat despite their limited availability, complicated method of preparation, and expensiveness. Equivalence point determination is the point of interest in neutralization titrations. With the change in pH, the indicators which are natural, usually end up giving a sharp color change. Plant-derived pigments that are of various shades and tints generally vary in their dyeing nature by altering pH. An indicator is a substance that exhibits the property of interchangeable color of the reaction mixture when reaching the vicinity of point with the change in pH. Acid-base titration indicators are normally weak acids or bases. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Ipomoea biloba, Dahlia pinnata, etc. are among the typical neutralization indicators that are extracted from plants. These natural Indicators are easily available and economical. In this review, we are discussing an overview of plant extracts, and natural pH indicators, and their significance in correspondence to analytical chemistry is illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study area, Tumkur amanikere lake watershed, is located 0.5 km away from Tumkur Town on National Highway No.4. The main source of water for this lake is Kallur village tank catchment area. The average rainfall in the area is 965 mm. The submersion area of the lake at MWL is 204 hectares. Groundwater samples were collected from 22 stations covering the area during the year 2008 and were analyzed for physicochemical characters. The type of water that predominated in the study area is Ca-Mg-Cl type, was assessed based on hydrochemical facies. Besides, suitability of groundwater for irrigation was evaluated based on sodium adsorption ratio, percent sodium, and the US salinity diagrams.

Modeling of turbulence heat transfer for supercritical fluids, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, is always challenging due to the drastic property variations near the critical point. The use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) along with numerical methods has shown promising results in predicting heat transfer coefficients of heat exchangers. In this study, the accuracy of four different turbulent models available in the commercial CFD software--ansysfluent is investigated against the available experimental results. The k-ε Re-normalization group (RNG) model, with enhanced wall treatment, is found to be the best-suited turbulence model. Further, K-ε RNG turbulence model is used in CFD for parametric analysis to generate the data for ANN studies. A total of 1,34,698 data samples was generated and fed into the ANN program to develop an equation that can predict the heat transfer coefficient. It was found that, for the considered range of values, the absolute average relative deviation is 3.49%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work describes a facile and convenient procedure for synthesizing zinc oxide nanoparticles using luteolin isolated from Eclipta alba plant (L-ZnONPs) at room temperature. The formation of as-grown L-ZnONPs was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The Wurtzite structure of ZnO was observed by its hexagonal phases in diffraction patterns. The SEM images revealed the different sizes and morphologies of L-ZnONPs, with diameters between 12 and 25 nm. The HR-TEM result showed that the inter-planar distance between two lattice fringes was 0.262 nm, which coincides with the d-spacing of (002) and (101) lattice planes of the as-obtained material. The anticancer activity of L-ZnONPs against the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 was greater as compared to that of luteolin or ZnO alone. The mechanistic evaluation of such an activity carried out using in silico methods suggested that the anti-breast cancer activity of L-ZnONPs was mediated by polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing interest in developing potent non-toxic drugs in medicine is widening the opportunities for studying the usage of nanostructures in the treatment of various diseases. The present work reports a method for a facile and an eco-friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Terminalia chebula fruit extract (TCE). The obtained AgNPs was characterized by using different spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The analysis of the results revealed that the as-obtained AgNPs have spherical morphology with an average diameter of 22 nm. Furthermore, the preliminary bioactivity evaluations revealed that the bio-conjugation of AgNPs, using TCE, significantly enhanced the antibacterial and anti-breast cancer potentials of the latter. The antibacterial activity of the as-prepared AgNPs showed that B. subtilis was more sensitive towards the AgNPs, followed by P. aeruginosa; while, E. coli and S. mutans showed comparatively minimal sensitivity toward the AgNPs. The IC50 values of TCE, AgNPs and TCE + AgNPs treatment of MCF-7 were found to be 17.53, 14.25 and 6.484 µg/mL, respectively. Therefore, it can be ascertained that the bio-conjugation may provide a headway with regard to the therapeutic employment of T. chebula, upon mechanistically understanding the basis of observed antibacterial and anticancer activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A nanocomposite of CaO:MgAl2O4 was synthesized through a straightforward and cost-effective sol–gel method. The investigation of the novel CaO:MgAl2O4 nanocomposite encompassed an examination of its morphological and structural alterations, as well as an exploration of its photocatalytic activities and electrochemical characteristics. XRD analysis revealed a nanocomposite size of 24.15 nm. The band gap, determined through UV studies, was found to be 3.83 eV, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) illustrated flake-like morphological changes in the CaO:MgAl2O4 samples. TEM, HRTEM, and SAED studies of a CaO:MgAl2O4 nanocomposite would reveal important details about its morphology, crystallography, and nanostructure. Photocatalytic activity was quantified by studying the degradation of Acid Red-88 (AR-88) dye in a deionized solution, achieving a 70% dye degradation under UV irradiation in 120 min. Plant growth examinations were carried out using dye degraded water to test its suitability for agriculture. The electrochemical energy storage and sensing applications of the prepared nanocomposite were examined using CaO:MgAl2O4 modified carbon paste electrode through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In conclusion, the synthesized CaO:MgAl2O4 nanocomposite demonstrated promising morphological and structural characteristics, efficient photocatalytic activity, and potential applications in electrochemical energy storage, highlighting its versatility for various technological and environmental applications. Graphical abstract

Endophytes are non-disease causing microbes (bacteria and fungi) surviving in living tissues of plants. Their intimate association and possible coevolution with their plant partners have resulted in them contributing to an array of plant growth benefits ranging from enhanced growth and biomass accumulation, tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses and in nutrient acquisition. The last couple of decades have witnessed a burgeoning literature on the role of endophytes (Class 3 type) in regulating plant growth and development and their adaptation to abiotic and biotic stresses. Though the underlying mechanisms of plant-endophyte interactions are far from clear, several studies have raised the hope of their potential application in agriculture, especially in mitigating abiotic and biotic stresses. The use of endophytes is envisaged as a route to reduce the production cost and burden on the environment by lessening the dependence on breeding for crop improvement and agrochemicals. Unfortunately, save a few well documented examples of their use, a little of these insights has been translated into actual agricultural applications. Here, we reflect on this paucity and elaborate on some of the important bottlenecks that might stand in way of fully realizing the potential that endophytes hold for crop improvement. We stress the need to study various facets of the endophyte-plant association for their gainful application in agriculture.

Identification of donor parents and markers for traits conferring drought tolerance eventually hastens the breeding for drought tolerance in rice. The extent of variation for water stress indicators, physio-morphological and plant production traits were assessed by evaluating 36 rice genotypes under water stress condition. Significant variation was observed for these traits and thirteen drought tolerant and susceptible genotypes were selected and grouped as tolerant and susceptible bulks based on physio-morphological and biochemical characterization. Genomic DNA was isolated from these rice accessions and pooled, respectively into drought tolerant and susceptible bulks. Bulked line analysis was carried to identify microsatellite markers linked to drought tolerance in rice. Out of 200 SSR primers screened RM 1092; RM 129 and RM157B were polymorphic between the bulks and also co-segregated among the individual genotypes constituting the respective bulks. The genomic regions flanked by these markers have been identified to be associated with various drought tolerance traits in rice and can be useful for marker assisted selection for drought resistance improvement in rice. The genotypes identified as drought tolerant can be used us donars in drought improvement breeding programmes.

This article correspond to a multi criterion decision making approach, compared with Multi-Objective Optimization on the Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) and ratio analysis (MOORA) to optimize different interconnected responses during Abrasive jet machining (AJM) process of Nickel 233 alloy. The response parameters preferred are the average material removal rate (MRR) surface roughness (Ra) and Taper angle (Ta). The entire of them have been calculated in terms of injecting pressure, standoff distance, and abrasive grain size. The proposed technique Weighted Aggregated Product Sum Assessment technique is investigation of parametric optimization on AJM process. The outcome acquired using the WASPAS method demonstrate perfect parallel with those obtained by the ratio analysis (MOORA) method which confirms the applicability and potentiality of these MCDM methods for resolving compound AJM process parameter selection problems.

The present study was based on primary data collected from 100 farmers in Gulbarga district of Karnataka, India, during the agricultural year 2013-2014. Study shows that average land holding size of pigeonpea seed farmers was higher in comparison to grain farmers and district average. The study illustrates a ratio of 32 : 68 towards fixed and variable costs in pigeonpea certified seed production with a total cost of ₹ 39436 and the gross and net returns were ₹ 73300 and ₹ 33864 per hectare, respectively. The total cost of cultivation, gross return, and net return in pigeonpea seed production were higher by around 23, 32, and 44 percent than grain production, respectively. Hence, production of certified seed has resulted in a win-win situation for the farmers with higher yield and increased returns. The decision of the farmer on adoption of seed production technology was positively influenced by his education, age, land holding, irrigated land, number of crops grown, and extension contacts while family size was influencing negatively. Higher yield and profitability associated with seed production can be effectively popularized among farmers, resulting in increased certified seed production.

We present our expeilence of pedicled Anterolateral thigh flap for reconstruction of groin defects in cancer patients. Total of 17 flaps in 16 patients were performed between January 2001 to May 2003. 15 flaps were used for groin defects after node dissection for carcinoma of Penis (bilateral groin defects in one patient), 1 case of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of groin and 1 case of Soft Tissue Sarcoma of groin. All patients were male. 16 were myocutaneous variety and 1 was fasciocutaneous flap based on the septocutaneous perforator. Complications were few and all patients achieved durable long-term coverage. We found the flap to be technically easy and reliable.

The transition from radicle emergence to seedling growth in maize is a crucial phase in the plant's life cycle, where rapid physiological and biochemical changes occur to facilitate successful development. In this study, we conducted a comparative transcriptomic analysis to gain a deeper understanding of the molecular processes driving this critical transition. The early divergence in gene expression patterns highlighted the upregulation of a substantial number of genes during radicle emergence. During radicle emergence, gene ontology (GO) term enrichment analysis unveiled active participation in biological processes such as chromatin assembly, cellular response to abiotic stress, and hormone signaling. This indicates that the initial stages of growth are marked by cellular expansion and adaptation to environmental stimuli. Conversely, in the seedling growth stage, GO analysis demonstrated a shift toward processes such as photosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism, and secondary metabolite biosynthesis, reflecting a transition to energy production and enhanced growth. In contrast, seedling growth was characterized by pathways related to photosynthesis and the production of gibberellins, crucial for robust seedling development. Hormonal regulation and starch metabolism were also prominent during radicle emergence, with various hormones, including auxins, diterpenoids, and brassinosteroids, driving processes like cell enlargement and stem growth. Moreover, starch and sucrose metabolism genes were expressed to mobilize stored reserves for energy during this stage. These findings offer valuable insights into the dynamic regulation of genes and pathways during this critical phase of maize development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

An easy and efficient large-scale synthesis of 1, 2,-di-O-acetyl-5-O-benzoyl-3-O-methyl-d-ribofuranose (8) was accomplished from commercial 1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-α-d-allofuranose in 7-steps and 30 % overall yield. The utility of protected 8 was demonstrated via synthesis of 9-(3'-O-methyl-β-d-ribofuranosyl)-6-chloropurine (21) and six other nucleoside analogues in good yields. A library of five novel base modified nucleosides were generated starting from purine nucleoside 21 via functional group manipulations. The 3'-O-modified nucleosides are known to act as chain terminator exerting antiviral activity. The synthesis strategy described herein offers direct access to 3'-O-alkylated nucleosides with wide range of applications, including cap analogues for mRNA vaccine production. This protocol provides a route to exclusive synthesis of 3'-O-alkylated nucleosides, devoid of isomeric 2'-O-alkylated products essential for both therapeutic and biological research., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Seed longevity is an important trait in the context of germplasm conservation and economics of seed production. The identification of populations with high level of genetic variability for seed longevity and associated traits will become a valuable resource for superior alleles for seed longevity. In this study, Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS)-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) approach, simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers and agro-morphological traits have been explored to investigate the diversity and population structure of assembled 96 genotypes. The GBS technique performed on 96 genotypes of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) resulted in 37,897 SNPs on sequences aligned to the reference genome sequence. The average genome coverage was 6.81X with a mapping rate of 99.56% covering the entire genome. Totally, 29,955 high quality SNPs were identified after stringent filtering and most of them were detected in non-coding regions. The 96 genotypes were phenotyped for eight quantitative and ten qualitative traits by growing in field by following augmented design. The STRUCTURE (Bayesian-model based algorithm), UPGMA (Un-weighed Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean) and principal component analysis (PCA) approaches using SSR, SNP as well as quantitative and qualitative traits revealed population structure and diversity in assembled population. The Bayesian-model based STRUCTURE using SNP markers could effectively identify clusters with higher seed longevity associated with seed coat colour and size which were subsequently validated by UPGMA and PCA based on SSR and agro-morphological traits. The results of STRUCTURE, PCA and UPGMA cluster analysis showed high degree of similarity and provided complementary data that helped to identify genotypes with higher longevity. Six black colour genotypes, viz., Local black soybean, Kalitur, ACC Nos. 39, 109, 101 and 37 showed higher seed longevity during accelerated ageing. Higher coefficient of variability observed for plant height, number of pods per plant, seed yield per plant, 100 seed weight and seed longevity confirms the diversity in assembled population and its suitability for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no competing interest., (Copyright: © 2022 T. V. et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

In this work, we studied influences on the absorption and fluorescence emission spectra of coumarin-4066 (C-466) with different solvent polarity scale. The spectral shifts reflect the effect of the equilibrium solvents association across the energized solute particle, which adjusts inertially as a result of quick charge realignment upon radiative deactivation to the lowest electronic state. The dipole moments of C-466 are determined by employing the Bakhshiev, Kawski-Chamma-Viallet, Lippert-Mataga and McRae relations. The results from all these methods are, excited state dipole moment of C-466 is higher than the ground state dipole moments and which indicates molecule is less polar in the ground state. Theoretical analysis was also carried out by Density Functional theory (DFT and TD -DFT) employing the BECKE-1998 (exchange)/STO-6G basic set in ethanol solvent and in vacuum medium. The HOMO-LUMO, Solvent Accessible Surfaces (SAS) and Molecular Electrostatic Potential (MEP) were analysed to acquire additional knowledge of the molecular arrangement and electronic properties of C-466. These photophysical properties suggest delineation can be mauled for laying out new luminescent tests for various solvents microenvironment.

Background: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered to be detrimental to seed viability. However, recent studies have demonstrated that ROS have key roles in seed germination particularly in the release of seed dormancy and embryogenesis, as well as in protection from pathogens., Scope: This review considers the functions of ROS in seed physiology. ROS are present in all cells and at all phases of the seed life cycle. ROS accumulation is important in breaking seed dormancy, and stimulating seed germination and protection from pathogens. However, excessive ROS accumulation can be detrimental. Therefore, knowledge of the mechanisms by which ROS influence seed physiology will provide insights that may not only allow the development of seed quality markers but also help us understand how dormancy can be broken in several recalcitrant species., Conclusions: Reactive oxygen species have a dual role in seed physiology. Understanding the relative importance of beneficial and detrimental effects of ROS provides great scope for the improvement and maintenance of seed vigour and quality, factors that may ultimately increase crop yields., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)