Search

The present investigation was undertaken as a pilot study to examine the diversity, occurrence and distribution pattern of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) from the selected study sites of the Asansol-Durgapur industrial area of Burdwan District of West Bengal, India from January 2012 to December 2015. A combination of direct search and opportunistic sighting methods were applied to record 57 different Odonata species (38 dragonflies and 19 damselflies). Among the dragonflies the most diverse family was Libellulidae represented by 36 species while among damselflies Coenagrionidae was the most diverse family represented by 16 species. In spite of the Asansol-Durgapur region being an industrial urban area, the present study revealed a handsome diversity of odonates. A suitable geographic location, favourable climatic conditions, heterogeneous habitat types that included ponds, wetlands, riverbeds, grasslands and agricultural lands along with the presence of appropriate vegetation provided a comfortable shelter for Odonata species to flourish in this ecoregion. All the odonates noted in the present study belong to the Least Concerned category as designated by IUCN.

The machinability of composite materials depends on reinforcements, matrix properties, cutting parameters, and on the cutting tool used (material, coating, and geometry). For new composites, experimental studies must be performed in order to understand their machinability, and thereby help manufacturers establishing appropriate cutting data. In this study, investigations are conducted to analyze the effects of cutting parameters and drill bit diameter on the thrust force, surface roughness, specific cutting energy, and dust emission during dry drilling of a new hybrid biocomposite consisting of polypropylene reinforced with miscanthus fibers and biochar. A full factorial design was used for the experimental design. It was found that the feed rate, the spindle speed, and the drill bit diameter have significant effects on the thrust force, the surface roughness, and the specific cutting energy. The effects of the machining parameters and the drill bit diameter on ultrafine particles emitted were not statistically significant, while the feed rate and drill bit diameter had significant effects on fine particle emission.

Carthamus tinctorius L. (safflower) is an important oilseed crop producing seed oil rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Scarcity of identified marker-trait associations is a major limitation toward development of successful marker-assisted breeding programs in safflower. In the present study, a safflower panel (CartAP) comprising 124 accessions derived from two core collections was assayed for its suitability for association mapping. Genotyping of CartAP using microsatellite markers revealed significant genetic diversity indicated by Shannon information index (H = 0.7537) and Nei's expected heterozygosity (I = 0.4432). In Principal Coordinate Analysis, the CartAP accessions were distributed homogeneously in all quadrants indicating their diverse nature. Distance-based Neighbor Joining analysis did not delineate the CartAP accessions in consonance with their geographical origin. Bayesian analysis of population structure of CartAP demonstrated the unstructured nature of the association panel. Kinship analysis at population (Gij) and individual level (Fij) revealed absence of or weak relatedness between the CartAP accessions. The above parameters established the suitability of CartAP for association mapping. We performed association mapping using phenotypic data for eight traits of agronomic value (viz., seed oil content, oleic acid, linoleic acid, plant height, number of primary branches, number of capitula per plant, 100-seed weight and days to 50% flowering) available for two growing seasons (2011–2012 and 2012–2013) through General Linear Model and Mixed Linear Model. Our study identified ninety-six significant marker-trait associations (MTAs; P < 0.05) of which, several MTAs with correlation coefficient (R2) > 10% were consistently represented in both models and in both seasons for traits viz., oil content, oleic acid content, linoleic acid content and number of primary branches. Several MTAs with high R2-values were detected either in a majority or in some environments (models and/or seasons). Many MTAs were also common between traits (viz., oleic/linoleic acid content; plant height/days to 50% flowering; number of primary branches/number of capitula per plant) that showed positive or negative correlation in their phenotypic values. The marker-trait associations identified in this study will facilitate marker-assisted breeding and identification of genetic determinants of trait variability.

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs, Meloidogyne spp.) are the most damaging plant parasites causing severe losses to crop production. The present study reports genome-wide identification and characterization of both tomato and RKN miRNAs simultaneously from RKN-infected susceptible tomato roots using high-throughput sequencing technique. RNAseq data from 11 small RNA libraries derived from 5 disease development stages identified 281 novel miRNAs of tomato in addition to 52 conserved and 4 variants of conserved miRNAs. Additionally, the same set of RNAseq data identified 38 conserved and 290 novel RKN miRNAs. Both tomato and RKN miRNAs showed differential expression at 5 stages of disease development based on digital expression profiles. In tomato, further validation through qRT-PCR confirmed that majority of miRNAs were significantly upregulated during susceptible response whereas downregulated during resistance response. The predicted targets of 8 conserved and 1 novel miRNAs were validated through 5'RLM-RACE. A negative correlation between expression profiles of a few conserved miRNAs (miR156, miR159, miR164 and miR396) and their targets (SBP, GAMYB-like, NAC and GRF1 transcription factor) was confirmed. A novel Sly_miRNA996 also showed a negative correlation with its target MYB-like transcription factor. These results indicate that the conserved and novel tomato miRNAs are involved in regulating developmental changes in host root during RKN infection. In RKN, the targets of conserved miRNAs were also predicted and a few of their predicted target genes are known to be involved in nematode parasitism. Further, the potential roles of both tomato and RKN miRNAs have been discussed.

Allylpyrocatechol, the active component obtained from ethanol extract of leaves of Piper betle Linn at a dose of 120mg/kg body weight was shown to be an antiulcerogenic agent. Allylpyrocatechol was isolated from PBE by column chromatographic separation followed by preparative TLC and tested in rat ulcer model. Histological studies reveal that damage in the mucosal epithelium was corrected and the disrupted epithelium (as seen in ulcer) reversed with the test compound. The cellular, molecular and biochemical factors underlying the healing of gastric ulcer, such as, growth factors (EGF, EGF-R, SMAD-4) and cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and COX-2) were observed to be up-regulated in presence of APC during healing process. All the data showed statistical significance (by one way ANOVA) when compared to the experimental control value. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jonmc.v1i2.7294 Journal of Nobel Medical College (2012), Vol.1 No.2 p.14-24

Iron deficiency anaemia is one of the most dangerous and devastating causative form of malnutrition in developing countries, where special care should be taken from the health community to address the problem in South East Asian countries, 1.3-2.2 billion population is affected according to world health organization. Fifty percent of women and children and 60% of gross anemic women of developing nations have been adversely affected till date. The most common cause of iron deficiency anaemia is due to inadequate intake of iron in diet, physiologic demands of pregnancy and rapid growth and loss due to parasitic infections. Other prevalent causes of anaemia include malaria, chronic infections and nutritional deficiencies of vitamin A, folic acid and Vitamin b-12. The study reveals that 25.57 % of patients have been suffering from iron deficient anemia. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jonmc.v1i1.7286 Journal of Nobel Medical College Vol.1(1) 2011 40-44

Carthamus tinctorius L. is a dryland oilseed crop yielding high quality edible oil. Previous studies have described significant phenotypic variability in the crop and used geographical distribution and phenotypic trait values to develop core collections. However, the molecular diversity component was lacking in the earlier collections thereby limiting their utility in breeding programs. The present study evaluated the phenotypic variability for twelve agronomically important traits during two growing seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13) in a global reference collection of 531 safflower accessions, assessed earlier by our group for genetic diversity and population structure using AFLP markers. Significant phenotypic variation was observed for all the agronomic traits in the representative collection. Cluster analysis of phenotypic data grouped the accessions into five major clusters. Accessions from the Indian Subcontinent and America harboured maximal phenotypic variability with unique characters for a few traits. MANOVA analysis indicated significant interaction between genotypes and environment for both the seasons. Initially, six independent core collections (CC1 – CC6) were developed using molecular marker and phenotypic data for two seasons through POWERCORE and MSTRAT. These collections captured the entire range of trait variability but failed to include complete genetic diversity represented in 19 clusters reported earlier through Bayesian Analysis of Population Structure (BAPS). Therefore, we merged the three POWERCORE core collections (CC1 – CC3) to generate a composite core collection, CartC1 and three MSTRAT core collections (CC4 – CC6)to generate another composite core collection, CartC2.The mean difference percentage, variance difference percentage, variable rate of coefficient of variance percentage, coincidence rate of range percentage, Shannon’s diversity index and Nei’s gene diversity for CartC1 were 11.2, 43.7, 132.4, 93.4, 0.47 and 0.306, respectively while the corresponding values for CartC2 were 9.3, 58.8, 124.6, 95.8, 0.46 and 0.301. Each composite core collection represented the complete range of phenotypic and genetic variability of the crop including nineteen BAPS clusters. This is the first report describing development of core collections in safflower using molecular marker data with phenotypic values and geographical distribution.These core collections will facilitate identification of genetic determinants of trait variability and effective utilization of the prevalent diversity in crop improvement programs.

Background: Parkinsonism is known to be associated with clinically significant impairments on an array of cognitive deficits. The degree of impairment is dependent not only on the course of the disease, but also on other bio-social factors. The objective of the present study was to examine the cognitive dysfunction in non-demented idiopathic Parkinson′s disease (IPD) in relation to age, stage of disease, and educational level in a sample in Kolkata, India. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of 51 (42 males, 9 females) right-handed patients suffering from non-demented IPD, of age between 40 and 82 years. Data were collected during on-phase medication by using the Kolkata Cognitive Screening Battery. Data were analyzed using means, standard deviations, and multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA). Results and Conclusion: The patients with IPD were impaired in comparison to the available normative data in almost all aspects of cognitive functioning and higher order mental processes. With increasing age, the patients showed greater impairment in delayed memory and recognition task. Patients of more severe stage showed greater impairment in MMSE, delayed recall, and information. Those with lower education had more impaired visuoconstructional ability, information, comprehension, similarities, and arithmetic.

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), an Asteraceae member, yields high quality edible oil rich in unsaturated fatty acids and is resilient to dry conditions. The crop holds tremendous potential for improvement through concerted molecular breeding programs due to the availability of significant genetic and phenotypic diversity. Genomic resources that could facilitate such breeding programs remain largely underdeveloped in the crop. The present study was initiated to develop a large set of novel microsatellite markers for safflower using next generation sequencing.Low throughput genome sequencing of safflower was performed using Illumina paired end technology providing ~3.5X coverage of the genome. Analysis of sequencing data allowed identification of 23,067 regions harboring perfect microsatellite loci. The safflower genome was found to be rich in dinucleotide repeats followed by tri-, tetra-, penta- and hexa-nucleotides. Primer pairs were designed for 5,716 novel microsatellite sequences with repeat length ≥ 20 bases and optimal flanking regions. A subset of 325 microsatellite loci was tested for amplification, of which 294 loci produced robust amplification. The validated primers were used for assessment of 23 safflower accessions belonging to diverse agro-climatic zones of the world leading to identification of 93 polymorphic primers (31.6%). The numbers of observed alleles at each locus ranged from two to four and mean polymorphism information content was found to be 0.3075. The polymorphic primers were tested for cross-species transferability on nine wild relatives of cultivated safflower. All primers except one showed amplification in at least two wild species while 25 primers amplified across all the nine species. The UPGMA dendrogram clustered C. tinctorius accessions and wild species separately into two major groups. The proposed progenitor species of safflower, C. oxyacantha and C. palaestinus were genetically closer to cultivated safflower and formed a distinct cluster. The cluster analysis also distinguished diploid and tetraploid wild species of safflower.Next generation sequencing of safflower genome generated a large set of microsatellite markers. The novel markers developed in this study will add to the existing repertoire of markers and can be used for diversity analysis, synteny studies, construction of linkage maps and marker-assisted selection.

The tomato Hero A gene is the only member of a multigene family that confers a high level (>80%) of resistance to all the economically important pathotypes of potato cyst nematode (PCN) species Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida. Although the resistance levels of transgenic tomato lines were similar to those of the tomato line LA1792 containing the introgressed Hero multigene family, transgenic potato plants expressing the tomato Hero A gene are not resistant to PCNs. Comparative microscopy studies of in vitro infected roots of PCN-susceptible tomato cv. Money Maker, the resistant breeding line LA1792, and transgenic line L10 with Ro1 pathotype have revealed no statistically significant difference in the number of juveniles invading roots. However, syncytia (specialized feeding cells) induced in LA1792 and L10 roots mostly were found to have degenerated a few days after their induction, and a few surviving syncytia were able to support only the development of males rather than females. Thus, the ratio between males and females was biased towards males on LA1792 and L10 roots. A series of changes occur in resistant plants leading to formation of a layer of necrotic cells separating the syncytium from stellar conductive tissues and this is followed by degradation of the syncytium. Although the Hero A gene is expressed in all tissues, including roots, stems, leaves, and flower buds, its expression is upregulated in roots in response to PCN infection. Moreover, the expression profiles of the Hero A correlates with the timing of death of the syncytium.

Haemoglobin levels were used to estimate the incidence of anaemia in children 2-12 years old in the population of Biratnagar, Morang Dist., Nepal. who were attending Nobel Medical College & teaching hospital. Out of 5063 subjects, 634 children’s were selectively diagnosed as anaemia. Among the 2406 children’s aged 2-6 years 5.4% were diagnosed with mild anaemia,2.7% moderate anaemia and 1.7% severe anaemia (WHO definition) of 2657 children’s aged 7-12 years,10.2% were diagnosed with mild anaemia, 3.1% moderate anaemia and 1.3% severe anaemia. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jonmc.v1i2.7297 Journal of Nobel Medical College (2012), Vol.1 No.2 p.36-38

Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are involved in diverse biological processes including adaptive response towards abiotic stresses. To unravel small RNAs and more specifically miRNAs that can potentially regulate determinants of abiotic stress tolerance, next generation sequencing of B. juncea seedlings subjected to high temperature, high salt and drought conditions was carried out. With the help of UEA sRNA workbench software package, 51 conserved miRNAs belonging to 30 miRNA families were identified. As there was limited genomic information available for B. juncea, we generated and assembled its genome sequence at a low coverage. Using the generated sequence and other publically available Brassica genomic/transcriptomic resources as mapping reference, 126 novel (not reported in any plant species) were discovered for the first time in B. juncea. Further analysis also revealed existence of 32 and 37 star sequences for conserved and novel miRNAs, respectively. The expression of selected conserved and novel miRNAs under conditions of different abiotic stresses was revalidated through universal TaqMan based real time PCR. Putative targets of identified conserved and novel miRNAs were predicted in B. rapa to gain insights into functional roles manifested by B. juncea miRNAs. Furthermore, SPL2-like, ARF17-like and a NAC domain containing protein were experimentally validated as targets of miR156, miR160 and miR164 respectively. Investigation of gene ontologies linked with targets of known and novel miRNAs forecasted their involvement in various biological functions.

Author(s): Joydeep Mukherjee (corresponding author) [1]; Sourav Nanda [1]; Amar Kumar Mishra [1]; Arindam Biswas [2] Dear Editor, We read with interest the letters to the editor[sup.[1,2]] written to highlight [...]

This study captures student perceptions of the effectiveness of remote learning and assessment in two associated engineering disciplines, mechanical and industrial, during the COVID-19 pandemic in a cross-national study. A structured questionnaire with 24 items on a 5-point Likert scale was used. Parallel and exploratory factor analyses identified three primary subscales. The links between student perceptions and assessment outcomes were also studied. There was a clear preference for face-to-face teaching, with the highest for laboratories. Remote live lectures were preferred over recorded. Although students found the switch to remote learning helpful, group work and communication were highlighted as concern areas. Mean scores on subscales indicate a low preference for remote learning (2.23), modest delivery effectiveness (3.05) and effective digital delivery tools (3.61). Gender effects were found significant on all subscales, along with significant interactions with university and year-group. Preference for remote delivery of design-based modules was significantly higher than others.