Pollen morphological investigations of family Cactaceae and its taxonomic implication by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy

The family Cactaceae is the diversified group of angiosperm plants whose pollen statistics has been used for taxonomic identification. In this article, we present the pollen morphology of eight species belong to seven taxonomically complex genera of Cactaceae including Astrophytum, Cylindropuntia, Echinocereus, Echinopsis, Mammillaria, Opuntia, and Thelocactus using light and scanning electron microscopy. The pollen grains were acetolyzed, measured, described, and electron photomicrographs were taken. Cactaceae can be characterized by presenting different palynomorphological features including pollen type, sculpturing, polar and equatorial diameter, aperture orientation, exine thickness, P/E ratio, and echini features. Four types of pollen shapes, that is, prolate spheroidal (three species), subprolate (two species), prolate (two species), and oblate spheroidal in Echinocereus reichenbachii were observed. The polar and equatorial diameter observed maximum in O. ficus indica 116.95 and 112.27 μm while minimum in M. compressa 38.42 and 21.05 μm. Pollen of two types, tricolpate in members of subfamily Cactioideae and pantoporate in the Opuntioideae were examined. The fertility percentage has been observed maximum in Opuntia macrocentra (83.84%) and minimum in Opuntia ficus‐indica (57.89%). Exine sculpturing showing great variations such as granulate, reticulate, granulate perforate and micro‐echinate foveolate ornamentation was examined only in Echinopsis eyriesii. A key to species, based on pollen micromorphological attributes, has been constructed for correct identification of complex cactus species.     

Chitosan/CNTs nanocomposite as green carrier material for pesticides controlled release

Chitosan-based nanocomposites containing gamma-treated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were developed for controlled release of pesticide. The CNTs were irradiated under gamma irradiation in air at different doses. The transmission electron microscopic images of gamma-treated CNTs showed disentanglement of the tubes without distorting their tubular structure which effectively increased the dispersion properties of CNTs in nanocomposites. X-ray diffraction analysis of CNTs showed some structural changes, and an irradiation dose of 150 kGy is the most effective. Azinphos methyl (AZM) was selected as a model drug, and its release was studied using HPLC technique. Controlled release response of CNTs-based nanocomposites opens a new avenue for pesticides applications because it requires less quantity of pesticides. As a result, the side effects of pesticide in our environment are minimized.     

Conformational transition of Poly (vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium chloride) (PVBTMAC) brush in the presence of Hofmeister anions

This study pertains to the conformational changes of Poly (vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium chloride) (PVBTMAC) brush onto SiO₂-coated resonator; which was further incorporated by using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) in the presence of Hofmeister series of anions as a function of ionic strength. Gradual shrinkage of highly extended PVBTMAC followed by loose inhomogeneous layer was on account of change in frequency (?f) and dissipation (??D) at low ionic strength. On the contrary, the increase in ionic strength collapses chains and dense homogenous layer is formed. The chaotropic anions comparativley bring drastic change in frequency unlike kosmotropic anions. This is because weakly hydrated chaotropic anions form strong ion pair with weakly hydrated trimethyl ammonium group on the PVBTMAC brush and as a result strong counter ion condensation was observed on polymer chain. Thus, the apparent mass associated with PVBTMAC chains increases that accounts for large change in ?f.     

Theranostic Interpolation of Genomic Instability in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a diverse disease caused by mutations in multiple genes accompanying epigenetic aberrations of hazardous genes and protein pathways, which distress tumor-suppressor genes and the expression of oncogenes. Alteration in any of the several physiological mechanisms such as cell cycle checkpoints, DNA repair machinery, mitotic checkpoints, and telomere maintenance results in genomic instability. Theranostic has the potential to foretell and estimate therapy response, contributing a valuable opportunity to modify the ongoing treatments and has developed new treatment strategies in a personalized manner. “Omics” technologies play a key role while studying genomic instability in breast cancer, and broadly include various aspects of proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, and tumor grading. Certain computational techniques have been designed to facilitate the early diagnosis of cancer and predict disease-specific therapies, which can produce many effective results. Several diverse tools are used to investigate genomic instability and underlying mechanisms. The current review aimed to explore the genomic landscape, tumor heterogeneity, and possible mechanisms of genomic instability involved in initiating breast cancer. We also discuss the implications of computational biology regarding mutational and pathway analyses, identification of prognostic markers, and the development of strategies for precision medicine. We also review different technologies required for the investigation of genomic instability in breast cancer cells, including recent therapeutic and preventive advances in breast cancer.     

煤矿开采特高压线塔保护煤柱设计与合理留设研究

文中统计分析了11座特高压线塔所处位置煤层的埋深、松散层厚度等地质采矿条件;结合《规范》经验值、两个工作面的地表移动变形实测值,并综合考虑山体采动滑移附加影响,分析得到了地表移动角值参数;采用垂线法,理论计算了保护煤柱尺寸,并通过地质块段法对煤柱压煤量进行了估算.     

The Plastome Sequences of Triticum sphaerococcum (ABD) and Triticum turgidum subsp. durum (AB) Exhibit Evolutionary Changes,Structural Characterization,Comparative Analysis,Phylogenomics and Time Divergence

The mechanism and course of Triticum plastome evolution is currently unknown; thus, it remains unclear how Triticum plastomes evolved during recent polyploidization. Here, we report the complete plastomes of two polyploid wheat species, Triticum sphaerococcum (AABBDD) and Triticum turgidum subsp. durum (AABB), and compare them with 19 available and complete Triticum plastomes to create the first map of genomic structural variation. Both T. sphaerococcum and T. turgidum subsp. durum plastomes were found to have a quadripartite structure, with plastome lengths of 134,531 bp and 134,015 bp, respectively. Furthermore, diploid (AA), tetraploid (AB, AG) and hexaploid (ABD, AGA^m) Triticum species plastomes displayed a conserved gene content and commonly harbored an identical set of annotated unique genes. Overall, there was a positive correlation between the number of repeats and plastome size. In all plastomes, the number of tandem repeats was higher than the number of palindromic and forward repeats. We constructed a Triticum phylogeny based on the complete plastomes and 42 shared genes from 71 plastomes. We estimated the divergence of Hordeum vulgare from wheat around 11.04–11.9 million years ago (mya) using a well-resolved plastome tree. Similarly, Sitopsis species diverged 2.8–2.9 mya before Triticum urartu (AA) and Triticum monococcum (AA). Aegilops speltoides was shown to be the maternal donor of polyploid wheat genomes and diverged ~0.2–0.9 mya. The phylogeny and divergence time estimates presented here can act as a reference framework for future studies of Triticum evolution.     

Quasi-maximum likelihood estimation of periodic GARCH and periodic ARMA-GARCH processes

Abstract.  This article establishes the strong consistency and asymptotic normality (CAN) of the quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) for generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (GARCH) and autoregressive moving-average (ARMA)-GARCH processes with periodically time-varying parameters. We first give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a strictly periodically stationary solution of the periodic GARCH (PGARCH) equation. As a result, it is shown that the moment of some positive order of the PGARCH solution is finite, under which we prove the strong consistency and asymptotic normality of the QMLE for a PGARCH process without any condition on its moments and for a periodic ARMA-GARCH (PARMA-PGARCH) under mild conditions.     

Influence of germination techniques on sprout yield,biosynthesis of ascorbic acid and cooking ability,in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Effects of germination time and illuminations on sprout yield, biosynthesis of ascorbic acid, cooking ability and moisture accumulation in chickpeas were significant (p ? 0.01). Green light had the highest promoting effect on the ascorbic acid level (40.59 mg/100 g) as compared to other illuminations but significantly reduced the sprout yield (188.6 g) as compared to dark, fluorescence and γ-rays illuminations with significantly high sprout yield (196 g) and imbibing moisture (51%). Cooking time was reduced by 43% due to γ-rays in un-soaked seed. Cooking time increased in all treated chickpea samples after 24 h germination and thereafter decreased significantly. Red light significantly increased the cooking time (68.44 min) followed by fluorescent (64.5 min), yellow (61.8 min) and green light (60.9 min). The results indicated that germination of chickpea under green light was an effective process in enhancing ascorbic acid content while dark, fluorescence and γ-rays were effective in promoting sprout growth and to some extent biosynthesis of ascorbic acid.     

Pediatric flexible bronchoscopy

Between 1993-1996, 200 pediatric flexible bronchoscopies were performed. Indications were: chronic cough (158 children), persistent pulmonary infiltrates (89), recurrent stridor (28), suspected tracheobronchial foreign body (20), suspected tuberculosis (17) and hemoptysis (3). Some children had more than 1 indication. 124 patients were boys (mean 4.18 +/- 2.86 years; range 1 month-15 years) and 76 were girls (mean 4.39 +/- 2.7 years; range 4 months-15 years). The procedure included direct vision recorded by video-camera and bronchoalveolar lavage; the lavage fluid was sent for culture, Gram and Ziehl-Nielsen strains and for cytology. There were a few minor side effects: mild stridor which resolved within a few hours (10 children) and transient fever (3). This simple, flexible instrument was effective and helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of children with respiratory symptoms in a secondary hospital facility.